I dunno, I always thought that Medic would one day snap and kill everyone. Or he was already plotting, one of the two. You may notice a distinct lack of colors in this fic, that is intentional. You can now imagine whichever team you want going through this.
"Music to Mein Ears"
"Medic? You in there?" Engineer rapped three times on the door, each blow heavier than the last. Having not seen Medic since the day's mission, he was getting worried – after all, who wouldn't?
"Ja, vat is it?" The response came from inside, and the Texan breathed a sigh of relief, glad to know that his buddy – and an important member of the team – was all right. But... something about the doctor's voice seemed... off. Was it just his imagination, or did his voice seem higher-pitched, a tad desperate, and maybe... Was insane the right word?
Breaking off from his thoughts, the inventor pushed the handle of the door open. As he did so, he noticed that his palms were sweating profusely, and he found himself frightened to enter the room. Perhaps it was that the lights were off, or maybe it was the faint twinge of blood that wafted across his nose, but for whatever reason, he feared what was through that door.
"Nein, do not come in! I am busy!" The note of desperation was obvious now, high and keening. A trickle of sweat ran down the side of the Engineer's face, halting briefly at the strap of his goggles. He could feel his heart beating fast from anticipation and anxiety as he stepped through the doorway despite himself and reached a hand to where he knew the light switch was.
His world seemed to have slowed down, and he did not have the courage to flick his hand, for that single gesture, he knew, would flood the place with light, and reveal whatever it was that he was dreading to see. Swallowing his saliva, and briefly noting how dry his mouth had become, he twitched his wrist and flicked the light on.
Nothing could have prepared him for the sight which greeted his eyes. Blood had been spattered on every available surface, with handprints clawing at the door, and drag marks leading away from it. Following the drag marks with his eyes, the Engineer looked up, the first thing he noticed being a smile on the Medic's lips, a wide-eyed, cornered look in his eyes. The second thing he noticed was a kidney in one of Medic's hands, a human brain in the other, which he appeared to be placing into various jars. But that was far from the most horrible thing.
Strapped to Medic's table, a look of shock and fear on his face, lay a lifeless Scout, his body rent apart by Medic's saw, blood, gore and organs spilling onto the table. Engineer stood there, dumbfounded, a feeling of shock numbing his body and coursing through his veins.
"Vhat? I vas goingk to put zem back later." Medic quipped, rolling his eyes.. Immediately following his statement, he grabbed a syringe from his table and lunged toward his former teammate, stabbing it deep into his arm and draining the liquid within.
The Engineer watched in horror as the unidentified liquid slipped into his bloodstream. More horrifying than anything else at that point was the lack of knowledge of exactly what was coursing through his veins right now, what was working its dark magic and imposing its will upon his body. His eyes widened as his world went dark, and his last conscious thought was a brief flicker of panic before a dark wave swept him off his feet, and then he was only falling... falling...
"Gah!' The sharp-minded Texan bolted upright in his bed, sweat coating his sheets and pajamas. Looking around wildly, he tried to gather a sense of his surroundings before allowing himself to relax. Letting out a long, slow breath, he felt a great sense of relief – just a dream. It had all just been a dream.
Trying to calm himself, the technician slipped out of bed and sauntered off to the kitchen, whistling a merry tune under his breath more to convince himself that everything was all right than anything else. Thanking whatever lord he believed in for not running into Heavy (who frequently conducted midnight raids on the fridge, at the expense of a distinct lack of food for everyone the next day), he opened up the refrigerator, squinting and blinking at the bright light that stared back at him.
Wiggling his fingers, he seemed to be momentarily indecisive, unable to choose between milk or one of the beers almost hidden in the back of the refrigerator. Making up his mind, he snatched up the carton of milk with one smooth flick of his wrist, and turned around, gently nudging the door shut with his heel. Flicking the light on on his way to the stove, he set the milk down on a nearby counter and turned around, opening a cupboard and selecting a saucepan at random.
Humming as he worked, he heated the milk up and poured it into a mug, downing the drink with a few gulps. Now thoroughly calm, he turned around... And ran almost directly into Medic.
"Ah, Engineer. I see you have not been sleeping, as vell?" Merely the sight of the monster from his dreams caused the constructer to break out into a cold sweat. But... surely it was just a dream, right? It wasn't real... It wasn't real...
"Engineer? Are you feelingk vell? You look rather pale..." Just as Engineer felt as if he was about to snap and scream for the Doctor to get away and leave him alone, he was saved by Heavy lumbering into the kitchen, obviously intending one of his midnight raids.
"Oh! Hello, Doctor. Hello, building man!" The Heavy's loud, enthusiastic greeting was enough to break the tension in the air, though he was oblivious to all but the obstacles keeping him from his midnight snacking. "Okay little men, is time to go now." The Heavy grabbed both men by the scruffs of their necks, lifting them as easily as lifting a stuffed animal. Taking the opportunity, Engineer somehow managed to break free and scampered off to his room, awaiting the inevitable coming of morning, and regretting very much his trip to the kitchen.
He clambered into the covers, wincing slightly as he realized that he now lay in cold, sweat-sodden sheets, and turned over, trying to get to sleep. When sleep finally did come, however, It was light and quick, dotted with intermittent nightmares.
A sudden beeping tore the Engineer from his dreams – it was just as well; he was having a nightmare in which Medic strapped him down and was cutting him open with a saw while Heavy stood in the background, laughing and eating a Sandvich. Rubbing his eyes and noting the sunlight that was beginning to filter through his window, the inventor changed and headed down to breakfast.
As soon as he arrived at the table that served as their mess hall, the Engineer noticed something missing – there was something unusually peaceful about the morning, something that he couldn't quite place his finger on until the Spy asked, "So, where is the Scout?" Looking around, the Engineer noticed one smack-talking Bostonian missing from the table.
"Oh, he vas sick last night, so he is now in his bedroom restingk."
This turn of events managed to recall the events of last night's nightmare, which replayed themselves in his head, the Scout's blank, lifeless stare burnt into his mind's eye, the Medic's maniacal, inane laughter playing over and over and over again in his head. "Just a dream... Just a dream..." the Engineer whispered to himself again and again, letting those three words blank out anything else in his mind.
"Engineer? I vould like to see you in mein office." The statement broke into the Engineer's thoughts, and he felt the now-familiar grip of fear tighten around his heart. "You are... not seemingk vell, shall ve say, and I am concerned over jour health." The words felt like a death sentence – Engineer didn't even want to be anywhere near the doctor right now, let alone being alone with him in an enclosed, practically escapeless room.
But... There was nothing wrong. Last night had been a dream, right? It had to be a coincidence that Scout was missing this morning. And the run-in with the Medic. And the Medic's sudden "concern" over him. Unsure of how he should respond to this latest development, Soldier responded for him.
"You heard the man, Engineer! Go to his office, now! We are NOT, and I repeat, we are NOT going to be missing an Engineer because he was too much of a pansy to have a few needles stuck into him!"
Now with no means of escape, the Engineer fearfully stood up, twitching his fingers nervously as cold sweat ran down his back.
"Ja, come vith me." The Medic turned around and gestured towards the Engineer over his shoulder. And the Engineer might have followed him, might have believed that it was not a dream, just might have calmed down a little, if it were not for a small splotch of blood that stood out starkly against the Medic's gloves.
"Are you comingk, or are you goingk to just sit zere all day?" The sarcastic remark seemed to lurch the Engineer into motion. Still unsure of what to do with his hands, he toyed with them, looking all the world like a scared child, a fact not unlost upon his bemused teammates.
"MAGGOT! GET DOWN THERE BEFORE I HAVE TO PICK YOU UP AND RUN YOU DOWN THERE MY OWN DAMN SELF! AND YOU DO NOT WANT ME TO DO THAT, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" Halfway through his rant, the Soldier had grabbed onto the the collar of the object of his rage's shirt, yanking him forward with each syllable to emphasize his point.
"NOW GO!" Soldier gave Engineer a sharp push, turning him around and causing him to stumble into Heavy. Still shaken up by everything that had happened, he was debating with himself over what to do when the Heavy interrupted his thoughts, albeit much less violently than the Soldier.
"Is okay, little building man. Medic is nice person, will not hurt you." The Texan looked up at the Russian, and noticed that the larger man seemed genuinely concerned. The Heavy was looking down at Engineer with a twinkle in his eyes that was usually reserved for Sascha, Natascha, or Sandvich.
Still hesitant, the inventor nevertheless followed the Medic, winding deeper and deeper into the base. "Are you feelingk okay? You seem rather... jittery." Slightly startled to hear the Medic speak, the Engineer opened his mouth, then closed it again, tentative about speaking for fear of saying the wrong thing. He didn't want to blatantly reject the Medic's help, because IF it was a dream (though the chances of that were becoming steadily smaller in his mind), the Medic might misinterpret it as ungratefulness, or even worse, an insult to his skills.
Just as he was about to speak, his thoughts were shattered once more by the Medic's announcement: "Ve are here." The Engineer scowled, despite his situation – did everyone seem hell-bent on interrupting his thoughts, or cutting him off just as he was about to speak?
Medic opened his door with a practiced, professional ease (if that could be said of opening doors), and ushered the Engineer in. Firmly pushing the Engineer down onto a chair, the Medic sat across from him, leaning forward and staring at the Engineer with interest.
"You seem to be nervous and frightened today, so I am here to get to ze... root of ze problem, as you vould say." the Medic used an odd tone, almost condescending, but more... Guilty? Scared? The Engineer, usually so skilled at gauging other people's feelings and emotions (one of the many reasons he had managed to maintain friends with everyone on the team), was at a loss as to what Medic was up to.
"For example, have you been havingk any strange dreams lately?" If anything, this deepened the Engineer's suspicions, and after a small internal turmoil as to whether or not to tell the truth, he decided to tell the truth – after all, what harm could come of it?
"Yeah, uh, last night, I had this dream that I went lookin' for ya, and then you were... dissectin' Scout, or somethin' like that, an' then ya injected me with somethin', and I woke up then." Seemingly managing to produce a clipboard and pen from thin air, the Medic tapped his pen on the clipboard before scribbling somethng.
"Ja, zat vould explain jour sudden uneasiness around me, vould it not?" Relieved that the Medic had not called him an insane lunatic, and, more importantly, was not addressing the fact as if it were important, he nodded weakly.
"Now zen, do you feel as if... it vere real? As if it vere not a dream? Zat you have suspicions zat I am truly an insane madman?" It was almost like the good doctor had read his mind.
"Yeah, now how would you know tha–" the soft-spoken Texan was cut off by a sudden attack. With a few smooth, fast gestures, the Medic had the inventor pinned against his table with a bonesaw to his throat.
"Ja, and I cannot have you goingk around and arousing suspicion, now can I?" The Medic asked in a throaty whisper, the last few words hissed into the Engineer's ear.
And the crazed doctor raised his arm, a saw clearly visible, outlined against the stark, bright whiteness of the overhead light, and bought it smashing down.