Team Fortress 2
French Class and Tinted Windows
Chapter 1- Delivery
By, the Unlucky-Charm
It was a lazy, rainy evening, right after an early ceasefire, when the train arrived to deliver food. The tired members of BLU, all very reluctant, were eyeing each other, in hopes that someone would bother get up and pick up the arrival. A game of rock paper scissors would determine the chosen ones.
Sniper, Engineer and Soldier lost, but (apparently) Soldier never lost so Sniper and Engie went off running through the rain on their own. The train was long gone but the crates and bags of food still stood by the railway in the distance.
"We should take 'em in before that water seeps through." Sniper yelled over the sound of rain pounding against their base.
"Right!"
The two burst into a sprint, but only 3 big strides later, Sniper came to a halt causing Engie to almost run into him.
"What is it?" He asked him.
Sniper squinted through the wet and foggy weather, trying to get a good look at what lay ahead. His eyesight had always been very good, so were his eyes finally deceiving him?
"Oi Engie!" He called even though the other man was right next to him. "Ya' see that?"
Engineer stepped next to his partner and narrowed his eyes.
"Is that...?"
Sniper cut him off with a nod and began jogging toward the silhouette sitting on top of one of the crates.
"Hello?" He called hesitantly once he was but a yard away from the crates.
"Yes? Hello?" A completely unfamiliar voice answered.
Sniper heard his partner gasp behind him. So he wasn't dreaming. There in fact WAS a young girl sitting on the crate with a couple of bags she had set her legs on. In her hands she clutched a soaked paper. When they finally came face to face , all they did was just stare at each other.
"Um, miss, what are you -?"
"Are you..." The girl cut Engie off and glanced down at her paper. "Are you um –Medic?"
The two men jerked their heads back and widened their eyes momentarily before glancing at each other and then sympathetically, at her.
"Follow me, sweetheart." Sniper said, confused and yet slightly pitying. The girl looked young and was definitely NOT supposed to be in a place like that. And Medic? That definitely was not good news.
Under the heavy rain, the trio walked with their heavy loads until they reached shelter at the doors of the base. That's where Sniper and Engineer got a better look at her. Brown hair, brown eyes, short; really nothing special about her. If anything, she was cute.
"Young lady, what are you doing here?" Engineer asked her hesitantly.
"I'm here to see a person called Medic... um, I don't know if it's his actual name, but it says BLU Medic... is that something you would know about?" She asked innocently, blushing to herself at how clueless she sounded.
"Well at least she's in the right base." Engineer said to Sniper who answered with a curt nod but did not tear his eyes away from the girl.
"Base?" She asked.
"Well, yeah. This IS a war."
"A war!" She exclaimed, sounding more surprised than she should have been. Not a good sign, Sniper thought.
Engie shot him a look that begged for some backup.
"Fine. Let's take you to Medic." Sniper finished by saying and led the way with his partner and the girl closely behind. The few times he bothered glancing back, he couldn't help but chuckle and the sight of her holding on to Engie's clothes. He sighed; he shouldn't have told her it was a war. Poor girl was probably scared half to death now.
It wasn't a long way through the halls when they reached the cafeteria where everyone was gathered and waiting for dinner. They all seems stressed and impatient after that day's battle, except for Spy who was his usual composed self. When he entered the room, Scout was the first notice him.
"Well, it's about fucking –Whoa!" He was also the first to notice HER.
In a clumsy manner, Scout stood up and slammed his hands loudly against the table, making everyone's attention turn to him and then to the three people standing in the doorway. "Who the hell is that?" He asked, shamelessly pointing at the young lady currently hiding as much of herself as possible behind Engineer.
"That's what we'd like to know." Sniper said dryly, addressing Medic. However, the doctor completely ignored him and was eyeing the girl hungrily, an eerie grin stretching across his face.
"Ah! She has finally arrived!" He said and shuffled his way towards her. He cupped her face with gloved hands and grinned all the more. "My apprentice! Look at that, such a pretty face!"
"M-medic?" Obviously terrified, she whispered the question.
"The very same." He growled with a heavy German accent, taking a step back to stare her down completely. "So, vat iz your name?"
The girl gulped and glanced around at everyone in the room. There were eight people in total, all of them men, all of them staring straight at her as if she was some kind of foreign animal from another planet. Utter disbelief would be the perfect way to describe it.
"Um, the letter said..." She paused. "I'm not supposed to say." She added shyly, almost a mumble.
"Very good!" He practically yelled. "Zhat vas a test!"
With bizarre motions, that the girl could only classify as 'elegance', the doctor swooped up behind her and grabbed her by the waist. "Everyone!" He announced. "From now on, she will be referred to as 'Nurse'!"
A few greetings and salutes were thrown around, one more awkward than the other, leaving the new Nurse flushed and still a little scared. All she could manage doing at the moment was waving back. Although they had introduced themselves once, her memory was good enough to remember most of them. Like, the loud one with the oversized helmet was called Soldier and the Australian who helped her was the Sniper. The Spy was easy enough to remember, the one closest to her age was called Scout and her employer was the Medic. The rest were still to be determined.
"Hey! So lemme get this straight." The loud young man spoke up. "So the politic guys used the extra money in our budget to buy a Nurse? So that means extra medical shit, right?"
"Non." She heard the Spy speak for the first time. "She eez Medic's employee. Meaning Medic has personally hired her. This doesn't necessarily mean zat the Reds now have Nurse too." His heavy French accent would have made her giggle if she wasn't about to pee her pants in fear at any second.
"Correct, my dear!" Medic applauded the Spy. "The Reds have no such member. She is but an intern, here to learn."
The attention turned to her and she began to nod rapidly. An internship...that's what the letter said. THIS was definitely not what she had in mind.
'Okay,' She began in her head. 'So far all I've got is that, one: I'm this crazy guy's apprentice. Two: no one calls the other from his actual name. Three: These people are in a war against...people dressed in red and I'm not sure but...they have the exact same team members? So there should be a red Medic...'
The girl thought of several possibilities, one less logical than the other, and then gave up. This was absolutely insane, but she was here to learn and that's what she'd do.
"Don't 'cha think she's a bit young, mate?" Sniper asked.
"Oh, no!" Medic waved his hand in the air, dismissing the question. "She's 16, she'll be fine."
The girl corrected him, because she was definitely older than that if she was being hired for an internship, but no one seemed to be paying attention to what she had to say and was more interested in the fact that she was a girl.
"A'ight!" The Scout jumped over the table and landed straight in front of her. "Lemme grab ya' bags and we can go to your room, if Medic here tells us where the fuck that is." He picked up one piece of luggage in each hand, but nobody answered him.
"'ey, petit. She iz probably 'ungry, don't you think?" The Spy reproached, waving his cigarette around in the airs, watching them both through a bored looking gaze.
"Um, that's okay, I'm fine." She made it a point to speak a tad bit louder this time.
One could only imagine the discomfort she felt. The room was vast, contained nine people, all men, who wouldn't stop looking at her. All the sirens were going off in her head, screaming danger, but she knew that at this point, there was not much she could do.
"Little Nurse is small." A man in the corner that was earlier sitting with Medic stood. She couldn't help but yelp when he drew nearer and nearer. He. Was. HUGE. How had she not noticed him earlier? "She's so tiny. She should be careful around here. Heavy will protect."
A few snickers were heard from around the room, probably laughing at her absolutely terrified expression. 'I'm going to die here.' She kept repeating in her head. 'These people are going to kill me.'
"It's the room connected to the infirmary." Medic explained, ignoring everyone else's comments or suggestions. Little did they know that he had this all planned out.
"What infirmary?" Engineer asked, arching a brow at the doctor.
"The one I never told you about." He replied casually and then went back to explaining the directions to Scout.
"Hold it, mate." Sniper cut in. "Since when is there an infirmary?" He asked suspiciously, anger laced lightly in his tone. He didn't really care; he just wished he had been told.
"Alvays. It's just too...how would you say...nice looking. All white and clean. Surely, it vould soften you all up too much." He snorted, as if a comfortable environment for the injured to rest in was the most absurd of concepts.
"So little Nurse is Medic too now?" Heavy asked in his booming Russian voice that bounced off the walls and overcame every other noise in the room.
"Vell, no." Medic answered sweetly and swung around to face everybody. "Nurse is for minor injuries ONLY." The German then leant over and squeezed the girl's cheek gently. "Wouldn't vant to overvork my pupil, now vould we?" He cooed.
The girl started and shut her eyes tightly and the sound of the man's eerie tone. 'This can't be happening' she told herself in her mind, as she shook her head. She knew she had to say something; be at least a LITTLE assertive. Next thing you know, they might have her do open heart surgery!
"No. No no no no no. I'm just here to help you." She said slowly, her palms set in front of her defensively.
"Of course, of course! You vill help by you know, doing basic things." The doctor came to a pause and just when Nurse was going to let the relief wash through her, he continued. "Stitches, shots, 3rd degree burns, broken bones; that sort of thing. If you ar' a good girl, I'll let you remove a couple of bullets, how's that, hm?"
"Wh –What!" She exclaimed. "Listen, I –I can't do that! I'm not qualified! I don't have a degree, o –or a licence! I can't do things like that! I don't know how!" She panicked, trying to explain and keep herself together at the same time. She enumerated the essentials slowly since those people didn't seem to understand what the hell they meant! Had they never heard of such things? Was that man practicing medicine without a diploma! As those thoughts crossed her mind, the threat of a meltdown neared.
With sly smiles all around, everyone in the room was glancing at each other, looking rather amused. Sniper was the first to make a move, by standing up and making contact with her. Unlike Medic's, Sniper's hand was much more comforting. She grimaced as the Aussie laughed and ruffled her damp hair.
"Cheeky little thing aren't we." He grinned and winked at her from over his sunglasses. "Not to worry, love. The only qualified person here is Engie over there and the only licence around is Demo's fishing permit. It ain't like he can use it much out here, though."
"Ay lass!" The man with the eye patch she assumed was 'Demo' shouted from across the room. "No need to be so professional!"
'These people are crazy!' Her own voice yelled inside her skull.
At that second, a man in some kind of weird suit appeared baring food. Through his mask, he yelled a muffled shout and everyone ran towards him.
Absolutely freaking crazy.
Scout escorted her to her room, and even he was amazed when they walked in. Not only was the infirmary sparkling and untouched, but Medic seemed to have done a remarkable job and transforming the Nurse's quarters. Her future bedroom was all that big, but it was very pretty. With light blue walls and a black and white bed set, the new Nurse was very impressed.
"'ey, Medic did one hell of a job."
She nodded in agreement and sat herself on the bed...and that's when she noticed a few things. For starters, her windows were slightly tinted and gave her a view of the battlefield. In the corners of two of the walls, there were speakers...announcements? She had a feeling this place was going to take some getting used to.
"'Wonder where he got all 'is shit." The boy went on, checking himself out in the vanity mirror.
She ignored his useless comments and continued analysing the room, when something hit her.
"Um, isn't it kind of dangerous that this room is facing the battlefield?" She asked nervously, fiddling with a strand of brown hair.
She did not even know how strongly she would come to regret asking that question, when a loud booming noise was heard from two feet away from her. The boy in front of her had carelessly taken out his gun and was shooting randomly at the window as if it was completely normal. The bullets bounded off the glass and landed on the floor.
"Bulletproof." He confirmed and tucked away the gun into his holster.
On the ground, a bullet rolled all the way to her feet. She stared down at the metal object that could easily take a life and a chill went through her spine. Whimpering quietly and shaking with her full body, she stared at Scout with tear filled eyes.
"Hey, hey now. It'll be a'ight. This shithole ain't that bad." He patted her back roughly as if she was choking on something. "Medic's a crazy bitch." He continued. "But he'll let you in on how shit goes 'round here."
He sat her down on what turned out to be a very comfortable bed and took a seat next to her. Though she did not smile, she was happy to be alone with him; someone her age and who seemed to understand a little better. They began talking about where they were from and how they lived. Their siblings, their friends, school life; anything that kids their age would have experienced.
"Wait, I didn't know there was an Armenian language." He said, staring at her utterly amazed.
"Yeah. I can speak English, Armenian, Japanese, French and very little Spanish." She explained, enumerating the languages on her fingertips.
"Wow, you can speak French?" He asked, a sparkle in his eye and a twitch at the corner of his lips.
"Um, yes. Really well, actually."
"Hey, you think you could um, teach me some o' that?" He asked her. The stutters and shakes in his voice did not go unnoticed by her and neither did the sudden change of disposition. The boy blushed and frowned. Had he too noticed these changes? He suddenly seemed very angry.
"Y-yeah, sure." She blinked at him like he was some kind of weirdo.
"Cool." He didn't sound too excited though.
And so, moments later, Medic walked in with an excited look on his face. Nurse was very thankful that Scout was not asked to leave and as discretely as possible, she scooted closer to him on the bed. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Scout glance at her and frown. Did he realise?
"'ey Doc, be careful would 'ya? Chick's scared shitless here." He warned him.
"Yes, yes. There are simple a couple of rules I vould like to share vith her." He cleared his throat and began to pace in the small room with his hands behind his back.
"First. Do not ever leave your quarters during a battle. Ever." He paused and smiled. His tone softened for the rest of the sentence. "Obviously, you may leave during regular time, when it's safe." Not sure how to react, she nodded. "However!" His voice went back to being loud and scary. "You may NEVER, ever, leave the base. Ever."
Other than the fact that she believed that Medic was suffering from some kind of bipolar disorder, she knew she would go mad if she was stuck inside for too long. How long is too long, anyway? She wondered.
"Why not?" She asked.
"Now, now, don't be upset. It's all for your own safety." He spoke tenderly, like she was his five year old daughter.
"Um Doc, won't she go nuts if you make her stay here for so long?" He tried to argue.
"Vell vhat do you vant me to do? Have you SEEN what the red Sniper can do?"
"Yeah, but vhat –WHAT if someone like...went with her, ya' know?" Scout tried to explain, looking puzzled over his own words.
"You mean an escort?" The German asked, rubbing his chin in a contemplating manner.
"No. Like, she can't go outside without one of us being with her."
"As in an escort."
"Yeah, yeah whatever Doc." He rolled his eyes.
"I don't know..."
"Please?" She begged and paused to think. "I...um...I won't be able to concentrate. I'm a bit claustrophobic." She lied.
"Hm, I see. I suppose you may... " He shrugged, but still didn't seem very fond of the idea. "Come Scout." He said and began making his way to the door, the young boy following. "Let's let her rest." They were gone but she had feeling there was a part two to Medic's rules.
When the door finally shut, Nurse was able to take a deep breath and relax. It was late and her best option was going to bed. Tomorrow was a big day and she couldn't help but wonder how everything would fall into place. As she stared through her window, a light lit up from a window at the neighbouring base. She couldn't believe that in a few hours, the field separating the two would be filled with people fighting and blowing each other up. Moments later, the light went off, but she had already fallen asleep.