A/N. Hello! It's me, and I'm back baby! I've been focusing on writing projects for other fandoms, namely A Realm Divided for Paladins, but there's been a short lull and I figure it's time to get back into TF2 fanfic writing. This is a fun little series that focuses on the lighthearted but still murderous adventures of a little gang of botkilling mercs that featured in my previous stories, The Good, The Bad, and The Robotic as well as Fear Is What Drives Us.
I really hope you'll enjoy! As always, the lovely BLU Medic belongs to the lovely Derwen!
Fighting. Day in, day out, fighting was the most common thing to occur on Teufort - or any of Mann Co.'s territory anyway. Every weekday, sometimes on the weekends, blood would be shed, insults flung across the two bases, rockets exploding, bullets whizzing, fire blazing, screams dying. It was all very normal.
But now, the bases of RED and BLU were both quiet. Outside was silent, say for the quiet echo of the water in the sewers below and the chatter of the two forts.
It was some time in the middle of December, snow falling outside. Teufort did not see snow often, but the plush, pristine blankets of snow outside were a welcome change.
Miss Pauling's heels clacked on the wooden floor of RED's base as she came through. Normally, her steps were quick and rushed for she always had other things that had to be attended to, but not here. Her gait was relaxed and regular, indicating little rush to be elsewhere.
She found RED scattered around the base as usual - hardly were they ever found together unless having a meeting or being yelled at by Spy or Soldier.
Sniper and Scout sat at the table, the former drinking coffee while reading the newspapers and Scout shoving spoonful after spoonful of cereal into his mouth, drops of milk flying everywhere.
Demoman was watching something on the tiny television they had with Pyro. Ah, RED's Pyro was a bit of curiousity. Instead of keeping his identity too much as a secret, he was open about it, often being found in casual clothes instead of his fie-retardant suit and rubber mask.
Soldier, Engineer, Heavy, Medic, and Spy were nowhere to be seen. Miss Pauling assumed them to be doing their own things. She guessed Engineer to be in his workshop, Medic in his office, and Soldier somewhere exercising or polishing his rocket launcher, but she just needed to talk to someone she could actually trust with passing on a message to the rest of the team.
Deciding she didn't want to go hunting for Spy, nor did she want to bother Engineer or Medic, she approached the unmasked Pyro instead, lightly placing her hand on his shoulder.
"Hey Pyro, can I talk to you for a moment?" Miss Pauling asked.
Pyro turned to her, too absorbed in the movie he was watching with Demoman to have noticed her arrival earlier. He stood, having to look down at his much-shorter boss. "Hey Miss P. What's up?" He asked, letting her pull him away from the movie for a moment.
She handed him a letter encased in a white envelope. The envelope had the Team Fortress Industries logo stamped on the front, indicating that it came right from the Administrator.
"Have the entire team read the letter," Miss Pauling explained briefly. She didn't say more after that. "Well, I have to go. Still have work to do and I'd like to get back to my office before the snow gets heavier. Merry Christmas, guys," She greeted, getting a chorus of replies before she left.
Pyro looked down at the envelope, carefully opening it and pulling out the letter inside.
Dear RED,
As per your contract states, you are given a two week break effectively immediately. Your break ends on December 26th and you are expected to return from your break promptly and be battle-ready on the 27th.
In this time, respawn systems will be offline for maintenance. So please, do not kill each other in that time. You are allowed to leave the base during the break.
Merry Christmas.
Regards,
The Administrator
Pyro passed the letter to Demoman, who had realised that he wasn't watching the movie anymore. Demoman scanned over the letter, whooping in delight.
"Yes! I can finally go back tae me mum!" Demoman whooped, slapping Pyro on the back and nearly flinging the smaller man to the floor with the force. "Wot about ye boy? Where ye gonna go?" He asked.
Pyro scratched the back of his head. "I… don't know? I guess I'll check with the bots if they want to go anywhere."
Demoman raised an eyebrow. "The bots? Why'd they wanna go anywhere?"
The bots included a Sniperbot by the name of Makina who usually lived in a shed on the outskirts of Teufort but had returned to RED's base when the snow came in, and Medibot, who lived over at BLU and studied a lot. They were both sentient and capable of recognising and experiencing human emotion and feeling, and for the last year and a half had been friends with some members of RED and BLU.
They became involved with the matters of RED and BLU when the RED Pyro and BLU Medic were captured by Grey Mann as part of some sick experiment, and the bots enlisted the help of the mercenaries to gain freedom.
The Administrator had reluctantly let the robots stay, as long as they stayed out of the matters of the eternal battle.
Pyro called the whole RED team to the rec room, the team slowly gaining news that Miss Pauling had come in with a letter. The whole team of nine gathered around the table, Pyro passing the letter to a hooded Spy to read out while while to keep Soldier from ripping it out of his hands.
Spy red out the letter - a Christmas break was a regular thing, but sometimes the mercenaries got so absorbed in work they forgot about their sanctioned break.
Engineer took off his hard hat, scratching his head for a moment. "Well hell, I might take the time to go home to Irene and see how she's doing."
Demoman chimed in with his ideas of going home to his mother too.
The team exploded into chatter about where they were going to go, but Pyro said little. He had no family outside of his brothers in arms, but he sure as hell had no plans to stay in during the break.
But then he had an idea. He had friends from BLU, connections he gained during the hard months of fighting Grey Mann. He figured it was time to get the team of robot-fighting men back together and head out for a bit of a trip over the holiday.
Pyro pulled Engineer, Spy and Demoman aside, excited to pitch his idea to them. "Guys, I just had a great idea. What if we get the BLU Medic and Heavy to join us on a trip? And the robots? It's been awhile since we got to hang out as friends."
Spy scoffed. "Do you really think the Administrator would allow us to interact as friends across teams? She wouldn't care less about the robots, but we are not supposed to be friends with BLU," He stated.
Pyro shrugged. "She doesn't have to know."
Engineer mulled over the idea for awhile. "I mean, I wouldn't mind having a little get together. Pyro's right, the lady doesn't have to know. And if I can bring y'all to my home and let y'all eat some real southern barbecue, that'll be a real treat."
Demoman hopped on it too. "Aye, been awhile since we got tae hang with the BLUs. Don't like 'em on the field but we're friends, aye?"
Spy rolled his eyes, still resisting the idea. "You cannot be friends with them just because we spent time together. It happened out of need and circumstance."
Pyro kept pushing the idea. "Come on, they saved your life before. And you got that shiny new revolver of yours because Heavy could pry open the doors at Hale's office, remember?"
Spy did remember. Very well, actually. The group had been on the run from Grey Mann at the time and needed new weapons after theirs were taken by the now-dead tyrant. Heavy had to punch two point five thousand pounds of pressure into a sensor to get the door open. Medibot had helped by finding a pedastel, which the BLU Heavy used as a battering ram. The revolver Spy looted from the room was one of his most prized possessions now.
After a moment, Spy relented with a huff. "Fine. Truth be told, I'll be glad for the break. Maybe you can have Makina bring the message to the BLUs."
It was a plan. Pyro excitedly ran off to find the Sniperbot, who idled away in a corner. Makina had changed the most since his arrival at Mann Co. His metal was polished and shining, all internal processors and parts replaced with high quality stuff. His arm no longer came loose (though he could dislodge it at will and swing it at someone if needed), and his LED eyes changed colour according to whatever he was feeling. It had taken months to get accustomed to all these new feelings and emotions, but he was getting the hang of it.
When Pyro stepped in front of the robot, the bot's dim eyes brightened as his motion sensors detected someone in proximity. The robot whirred to life again, eyeing Pyro.
"Hello Pyro," Makina greeted, his eyes slowly turning orange with curiousity at the Pyro's sudden appearance.
"Hey Makina. The Admin gave us a two week break for Christmas. Spy, Engi, Demo and I wanted you, Medibot, and BLU's Medic and Heavy to come with. Just like old times," Pyro pitched to the Sniperbot.
Makina's eyes turned pale blue as he considered it. Then, he agreed. "Sure. But I thought RED and BLU cannot interact outside of battle?"
"That's exactly why I need you to go over and talk to BLU," Pyro easily stated.
Makina and Medibot were granted free range of Teufort outside of battle as long as they were not passing information from one base to another. Makina nodded. "I'll do it."
Pyro clapped his hands in glee, excited to tell the rest of the REDs that the plan was in motion. "Tell them tomorrow, 5am we'll meet at the road exit heading towards downtown Teufort. I got a great idea on where we can go!"
Pyro was gone before Makina could clarify where they were going, only hearing Pyro shout for Makina to tell BLU to pack for cold weather and a long trip.
Makina left for BLU immediately, marching right through the snow and leaving tracks as he went. The usually bloodstained area was covered in a thick layer of pristine snow, and Teufort really looked beautiful like this.
Makina's eyes went white. He had never felt like this before, looking out into the quiet base. The sun reflected off icicles and the water that slowly dripped on them. There was no chaos, no fighting. It felt really nice.
On his HUD blinked a new word. "Peaceful", it read. He was feeling peaceful. It felt really nice, but the peace melted into warmth as Makina entered BLU's base and headed straight for the Medic's office.
Medibot had made his office with the BLU Medic, studying and experimenting on all kinds of things. Where the BLU was more interested in physical things, Medibot was very much into medicine and the science and chemistry behind it.
The BLU Medic was sipping on a steaming cup of tea at his desk inside the office that linked to the infirmary. Next to him a stack of papers lay and he scribbled with one hand.
"Hey Medic," Makina greeted, approaching the BLU.
The Medic looked up in surprise for a moment, before offering a smile in greeting. "Hello, Herr Makina. Vhat are you here for?" He asked.
"I need to talk to you, Heavy, and the Doc. Can you gather them for me?" Makina asked.
The Medic glanced around. "Medibot just vent outside to collect some parcels. He should be back soon. You can send Mediboy a message to call for Heavy too, ja? I have some work to do before the holiday break."
Right, Makina was capable of sending messages internally. He quickly typed up a message to Medibot, the only indication being a light whirr coming from him. In not more than a few minutes, Medibot rolled in with Heavy, both of them holding several boxes.
While Makina was friends with the few mercenaries he worked with only, Medibot was friends with most if not all of BLU. He only couldn't find himself interacting too much with the new BLU Scout, given what happened in the past regarding him and the ex BLU Scout. The one he couldn't save fron death.
Heavy was chatting with Medibot as he set down a massive box. Makina couldn't help but approach with interest.
"Hey Doc, hey Heavy. What's in the box?" Makina asked, peering in as Heavy cut open the tape sealing the cardboard box shut.
Medibot excitedly dove his hands into the box the second it was open, styrofoam packing peanuts flying everywhere.
"Ah, just as vell you're here, Herr Makina!" Medibot exclaimed, "I have somezhing for you."
He pulled out a strange device. It was about a metre tall and maybe a little over half a metre wide.
"Zhis is just a new charging station I had ordered. Not vhat I was going to give you," Medibot explained as he handed a nicely wrapped box to Makina.
"Christmas is coming, and I vas going to vait to give zhis to you, but I figure since you're here, I might as vell give it to you now. Go on, open it!" The metal doctor prompted.
Makina sat down and opened it, finding three pieces of a weapon cleverly clipped together. He pulled the pieces out, assembling it together.
He was greeted by a beautifully made sniper rifle that could be taken apart for easier storage and quickly assembled again. It was well made, and had Makina's name engraved into the side of the barrel.
"Wow," Makina breathed, "this is really nice. Thanks Doc." He suddenly realised that he hadn't gotten anything for his best friend, but Medibot said nothing about it.
"You're very welcome, Herr Makina. Now, vhat is it you vanted to tell us?" He asked.
Remembering the reason why he was here over at BLU, Makina explained the plan to Medic, Heavy, and Medibot.
Medic couldn't help but smile. "Vell, I'd love to go for a vacation vith zhem. I suppose zhe Administrator doesn't have to know. But vhere are ve going?"
Makina shrugged. "Who knows? Pyro just said to pack for cold weather is all. Meet us at the road exit towards downtown Teufort at 5am tomorrow."
Heavy smiled. "Do not worry. Heavy always have clothes for cold weather. If doktor need, Heavy will bring extra coat."
Makina thanked Medibot once more for the rifle before disappearing back to RED. He wondered along the way where they were going, hoping that wherever it was, it would be a nice place.