They had been waiting since morning. Now it was night. The moon rising over the horizon, slightly covered by the massive machine that released the mercs nightmares - Grey Mann's robot army.
They were not sure why they were the ones tied up in everything but the Administrator had sent them there and none of them were allowed to leave until the job was finished. The BLU Scout sat on the steps of Rottenburg gazing out and waiting for the next set to come along; the RED Spy was behind him smoking a cigarette, looking calm and collective - but this was Spy, he always had to keep his composure.
A RED Sniper sat on a ledge, his rifle ready and waiting to claim its first headshot as a BLU Engineer nearby was setting up their last set of defences. The last two mercs to arrive were a RED Medic and Heavy pair - they were only allowed a set of six people at a time and all the Soldiers and Demomen had done their part on either for the past week. The RED Soldier was willing to go again but their Medic had warned him previously that if he was to go out and get blown up again for the sixteenth time he wasn't sure he or respawn could put him back together. And the Pyros... well they were too busy with balloonicorns to care at that point in time.
As they arrived the Russian nodded at the team assembled before him and his eyes fell particularly upon Scout.
"Is little man able to handle robot?" he teased.
"Ha, you kidding me" the Scout replied in a cocky tone "I could do this in my sleep." Spy rolled his eyes and flicked away his finished cigar. Scout watched as he walked past and rolled his own eyes.
"Take no notice of 'im!" called the Australian "He's too stuck up to notice a joke."
The Spy turned at this response. Even though they were on the same team it always seemed like a natural circumstance for a Sniper and Spy to be enemies. Assassins for hire - always willing to be the best.
"And what would a bushman such as yourself know about jokes, some of the things I hear you say on the battlefield are poor excuses for a joke. Oh wait, they're insults aren't they?"
Sniper snarled as a response and the Spy let out a small chuckle, seeming very pleased with himself.
Engineer chuckled softly as Sniper checked his bottles of Jarate, "You don't look like a happy camper."
"Piss off" Sniper growled again.
It hadn't been long before the small team were in battle, the swarms of robots seemed endless. Scout's main focus was to collect as much money as possible, more money meant more of a chance at survival. As he dashed around, firing at the weaker targets he cast looks upon his comrades. The Heavy and Medic had a good buddy system, similar to what he had seen on previous fights in 2Fort and HighTower. The Medic was focused on both him and the others, anyone who called his name would be tended to almost immediately. Sniper was continuously headshotting with projectile bullets and the sentry was firing like nothing he had ever seen before.
The only one missing was Spy.
'Probably snuck off and hiding' thought Scout angrily. Spy was one of those people who got on everyone's nerves. But he was as focused as Engineer and seemed to keep the team together in a way.
Suddenly a rocket came out of nowhere and Scout had a split second to dive out of the way. But it didn't seem much like a leap, more like a pull.
As he landed in a building nearby it took him a second to realise who had saved him. Spy didn't say anything, he sat waiting with a sapper and eyeing the giant Demoman robot heading towards the bomb shaft.
"Uh..." said Scout "Thanks..."
The Spy was silent for a few seconds, "You're welcome..."
There was a sound of screaming followed by Engineer's worried cry "Sniper's a goner!" Spy put away his sapper and was now drawing his Ambassador. Scout was on edge again, shifting from one foot to another.
"Aw crap!" he muttered "What we gonna do?"
Spy reloaded his gun and stood up, "We continue to fight"
Scouts eyes widened "You serious?"
The Spy turned to the youngest merc, "What, do your team give up so soon in battle?"
The Scout remained quiet and reloaded his Scatter Gun, he hated being looked down upon. Especially if it was the guy who dared to get close with his own mother. The Scout nodded and went on his way, this time focusing more on shooting the robots than grabbing money. Suddenly the gates smashed as a giant robot Heavy stormed in. The sentry gun fired automatically and all focus was now on this new enemy.
The RED Medic and Heavy focused all of their energy into taking down the giant Heavy, Sniper had respawned and was aiming once again for headshots, however it could be seen that he was shaken from his past experience. The Scout charged forwards, double jumping in order to confuse the enemy and make it harder to be hit. Getting up close was his style of fighting but he was starting to question whether that would be the best case with a robot such as this. He decided in the end to go for it and dashed behind the bolted beast of a machine. He pressed the Scattergun as close as possible to the machine and fired.
But it wasn't like a normal battle.
The Heavy turned, seemingly unharmed from this attack, and glared at the Scout with its cold, dead metallic eyes. It swiped it giant fists, sending the Scout flying back and crashing into a set of rocks. A harsh gasp of pain escaped his mouth as he felt some bones in his back break on impact. He had already take a considerable amount of damage earlier and this just added more pain to the mix. He strained to get back up but the pain in his back was to great and he remained on the ground.
The Medic noticed the injured comrade without even being called to. He attempted to get over to him but the robot would not have it. It loomed over the pair they knew that if they did not try and beat it things could get a whole lot worse for them.
The Spy however thought differently, ignoring his own survival instincts he ran towards the robot with a sapper in hand. He couldn't let Scout die, not like this. He had encouraged him to fight like this, even if they were enemies in 2Fort or Hightower they were a team now. That was not going to change. The sapper made contact, the blue electricity short circuiting the robot. Not shutting it down like a sentry but slowing it down. It gave him enough time to get to Scout and that was all that was important.
Who would have known that in just one battle the REDs and BLUs forgot about the years and years of battle?
Spy managed to get to Scout, he could see that he was trying his best to stay awake.
"Come on" Spy muttered "the labourer's toys should put you in a better condition..."
Scout moaned wearily in reply, "I can manage..."
"Stop trying to be so cocky. You're injured and you need to be healed. How else are we going to defeat zees robots?"
The Scout let out a small chuckle and felt himself limp a little, he knew that he would not be able to walk there.
"C'mon Spy..." he wheezed "I'll be back anyway..."
"Non!" Spy snapped "Come on." He carefully lifted the Scout onto his back and ran up to the Engineers dispenser. Scout was alarmed by this sudden gesture but was just too tired to think about it right now.
Seconds later he was in darkness.