A/N: Here we go, prologue to the sequel of The Good, The Bad, The Robotic!

"Mission ends in sixty seconds."

Sixty seconds. They had a whole minute to keep BLU from pushing the bomb cart into the stupidly big hole in the middle of RED's base.

For most people, a minute wasn't a lot of time. You could hardly do anything with a minute only. But for the mercenaries, the last minute of battle was always the longest.

BLU struggled to push the cart, having to fend off oncoming rockets and bullets. RED wasn't having a walk in the park either, what with their increased respawn tine and needing to keep BLU from even getting to the cart. It was so close to the hole already, just another nudge would tip it off the edge.

Pyro stood on the cart itself, aggressively bursting flames at any BLU who dared go near to attempt to make a last second push.

Strategic sticky traps had been placed all around the cart and at entrances to the base so BLU could not so much as to even get anywhere close to the cart.

Spy was mentally counting down the seconds to victory as he snuck behind enemy lines for the last time in the round.

Disguised cleverly as the BLU Sniper, he snuck up behind their Demoman, pretending to take aim at the REDs. When he was close enough, he raised his knife, posed to strike when the timer dinged. As his knife crackled with extra power, the BLU Demoman whipped around in time for Spy to stab him through his only eye.

The rest of the BLUs fled as RED hounded after them like mad dogs, eager for their last kills. Spy didn't follow. There was no reason to. Instead, the prospect of getting first dibs on the cleanest shower stall was a little more tempting.

When he entered the base again, he found Medibot waiting to greet whoever entered first.

"Hello Herr Spy," The robot greeted. Medibot had been living with the mercenaries for over six months now. He occasionally switched bases to live at BLU, but always came back to continue research that was left at RED. Spy didn't see him too often; the robot was always in Medic's office working on something.

He nodded to the robot, flipping his hood down and letting it fall onto his shoulders "Medibot."

"Not going to participate in zhe last humiliation?" Medibot asked.

Spy shook his head. "I much rather have a cold shower than run all the way to their base just for an extra kill."

Six months ago his son had died. The BLU Scout - no, the ex BLU Scout - saw death on a daily basis, but that time had been permanent. Spy had learnt to let go of it for the most part, but he found himself plagued with memories every time he stormed BLU's base. He had since stopped going to BLU whenever he could.

Medibot nodded. "Vell I just cleaned out zhe showers. Not much else better to do. Oh, Miss Pauling visited earlier vhile all of you were out on zhe field. She left a letter for RED."

"Did you open it?" Spy asked. Already he began to strip himself of his suit jacket, purposely positioning himself right under the blast of the air conditioner. It was an old thing and didn't provide much relief.

"No. I don't open any letters zhat aren't meant for me. She just mentioned it vas important and zhat zhe entire team should read it."

Spy's eyes drifted to the white envelope on the dining table. It stood out white as a star, so pristine and pure in comparison to the rest of the old wooden table. "I'll gather the team and read it later." He scooped up his suit jacket and nodded to Medibot before making his leave and heading straight for the bathroom.

Once he was in the bathroom he fully stripped, leaving a fresh set of clothes on the bench before stepping into the shower. The cold water was a little numbing initially, but once he got used to it it was incredibly refreshing after a hard battle.

He made sure to lock the shower stall before letting himself remove the balaclava and wash his face and hair.

Despite the cold air brought by the coming peak of winter, the cold water was still a relief. It flushed the heat of his skin away and left him feeling cool.

When he was done showering, he quickly rinsed the balaclava and wrung it dry, rubbing his hair down with a towel before putting it back on. As he changed back into a casual undershirt and a red vest, the door to the bathroom opened.

The RED Scout was nothing at all like the old BLU one. He was a little older, louder, and way more rowdy. Spy immediately noticed how red his knuckles were.

Scout and Spy didn't talk much. There was no need to, and Spy decided it was a good idea to keep it that way. They barely exchanged glances as Scout dumped his new set of clothes onto the bench and disappeared into the shower stall.

The rest of the team was starting to come in to bathe, and it was then Spy decided it was time for him to get out.

The base was blissfully empty, what with most of the team in the showers. Spy headed for the kitchen, swiping the envelope into his gloved hand as he went.

As he put a kettle on to boil, he opened the letter. Inside was a folded piece of paper in print. The team didn't often get letters from Miss Pauling except for their monthly reports, so this was a little thrilling. He pulled out the letter and unfolded it, letting his eyes roam the page.

Dear RED team,

The respawn systems have been running for an extended period of time and we have noticed some slight hold ups in the respawn system. To prevent any unwanted deaths, the Administrator is going to shut down respawn for maintenance. As such, you all have been given a month off, effective immediately. Enjoy your holidays.

Miss Pauling.

Well wasn't that nice. Spy put the letter back down, unsure of what to make of it. For too long his life had been made out of murder day in day out. Their longest holiday up till now had been a week, and that had been a drag. And now a month...

He pursed his lips and lit himself a cigarette, taking a moment to step away and make himself a cup of coffee. When he came back, Medibot had joined him at the table.

"Vell? Vhat is it about?"

Spy took a long sip of coffee and read the letter again. Yep. They had a month long holiday. "We've been given a month off as they take down the respawn system for maintenance. Effective immediately, so I guess the rest of the day counts as day one." He could hear Medibot's processors whirring as he took in the information.

"So… vhat are you going to do?" The robot asked. Spy shrugged.

"I don't know. I'll probably see what the rest of the team plans to do first. I'll bring it up at dinner." He folded the letter up again and tucked it back into the envelope. Medibot began to back up.

"If zhat's zhe case zhen I'll be going back to zhe office to keep working on research." Spy nodded, and Medibot left. He thumbed the letter, careful not to let the red embers fall off the end of his cigarette and onto the pristine envelope.

At dinner, Spy produced the envelope. The rest of the team stared at it like it was holy grail, glowing and shining in comparison to the shabby surroundings. Demoman reached forward to grab the envelope in between chewing on the too-tough chicken breast. As he scanned the letter, he quietly mumbled along the words, occasionally stopping to yell at Soldier to stop trying to grab the letter from him.

When he was done, he passed the letter along the table. "Ach, so we got a whole bloody month off? Wot do they expect us to do? Rot?"

"Ah think they expect us to relax," Engineer mused. He focused himself on eating his vegetables in between trying to tear up the chicken breast into smaller, more manageable pieces.

"Relax? Mate, Oi don't think we know how ta do that anymore." Sniper didn't even bother reading the letter when it was passed to him, simply passing it along to Scout who eagerly took it. "That said though, could always use this time ta go home ta me mum and dad."

Engineer looked up from the shredded chicken breast on his plate. "Yeah, Ah reckon Ah could take the time off to go home to Irene…"

The table began to ripple as the team discussed what they were going to do with their month off. Visiting family, going on holidays, travelling somewhere to relax. It all sounded nice, but Spy didn't really have anywhere to go.

"So where ya going Spah?" Engineer asked, casually looking up at the masked man. He shrugged.

"Probably nowhere. I'll be glad enough when you're all gone and I can have some quiet time without you barbarians all around me. So the sooner all of you leave, the better." He ignored the chicken breast on his plate, finding it too dry to eat. The team looked up as Medibot rolled past the table and straight for the door.

Demoman waved absent-mindedly at him. "Oi lad, where're ye goin'?"

Medibot stopped, staring at the floor for a bit before looking at them. "Oh, Herr Makina is here to help me vith one of my experiments is all." He didn't offer any more explanation before leaving to fetch the Sniperbot who camped at BLU most of the time. They turned their attention back to the letter.

"Man, I'm gonna get the first flight outta here. Can't stand bein' around all ya bozos." Scout had surprisingly managed to eat the entire chicken breast after drowning it in too much gravy to the point where it may as well have been soup. He pushed his chair back and stood up, grabbing his plate and dumping it into the sink. "Yo Medic, I'm gonna borrow your computer to book flight tickets. That's a statement, not a question. We ain't debatin' this shit."

Medic pushed his glasses up his nose, frowning a little at the prospect of Scout possibly searching through his personal research files. Deciding that there would be too much scientific gibberish for Scout to understand, he let it slide. "Fine, fine. Just don't look through my zhings or I vill gut you and use you for mein newest experiment."

Scout rolled his eyes at the threat, scurrying off to the office. Medic suddenly decided he didn't quite trust Scout alone in his office, quickly getting up, putting his plate in the sink and hurrying to the office as well.

One by one the team decided they were done with dinner, leaving Engineer and Spy at the table. They remained in silence for a good long time as Engineer continued to work on tearing up the chicken and trying to find some kind of taste in it without drowning it in gravy like Scout had, and Spy blatantly ignoring Engineer's presence. That is, until Engineer broke the silence.

"How ya holdin' up, Spah?"

Spy raised an eyebrow, nudging the plate away from him. He didn't like wasting food, but the chicken breast was almost inedible by now. "Fine."

"Things have been a lil' different since we came back from fightin' Gray and all that."

Spy did not like where this was going. "And your point?"

Engineer shrugged, giving up on trying to eat the chicken. "Ah'm just sayin', now that we got a month off Ah think you should take the time off to relax, go somewhere. Ah know what happened to Scout was terrible, and Ah'm just sayin' that it's gonna have an effect on-" He cut short as Spy stabbed his butterfly knife into the table. The Texan stared at the gleaming blade.

The Frenchman's eyes had gone completely cold. "Do not talk about him," he snarled. Engineer raised his hands defensively.

"Ah'm just sayin', but it's your call Spah." He got up, taking his plate and Spy's to the sink. "Night pardner."

Spy scowled after him, pulling his knife out of the soft wood.

Scout… oh Zack.