Madeline stared out the window through her round glasses, long brown hair in a low ponytail. It had been hours since she left her hometown on this deep blue colored train, heading for wherever her ticket said she was going. She began dozing when she realized it was snowing. Eventually the whole ground was white. Great, she thought. Snow. She hated the cold. It was absolute Hell for her, being cold or wet, or even worse, both.
She saw a sign out of the window, "Viaduct; the land of snow and trees!" It said. It was riddled with bullet holes and blood splatter. Lovely, she thought, just lovely.
Such a welcoming sign for her beginning of her future with BLU.
Madeline jumped at the sudden jerk her whole train cart made. She thought to herself, trains do NOT do that. She peered out of the door, into the hallway. She was the only one on this one, other supplies were on others. There were several seats separated by small rooms and doors, and there were a few others on this cart. She didn't know about any others though, she didn't see many people board.
Minutes passed, and the train jerked again, slowing down majorly after throwing her into her seat. She looked around, panicking, when a guy aged a few years younger than her pounded his fist on her window.
"You okay! Hey, we gotta get offa this train! We gotta get off!" He yelled, gray eyes huge. The tracks below them groaned eerily before explosions were heard. Several more smaller explosions bombarded the sides of the train carts ahead, and one by one, every cart tipped on a side. The last thing Madeline felt was her head slamming into the glass window behind her.
She awoke to the cold. Snow blew into her face, the wind and snow had picked up, stronger and heavy. She stood up, wobbling and feeling lighter as the snow fell off her. It surprised Madeline how much fell to the ground. She looked around, the train was in ruins. She could see the makeout of things buried under the snow. She yelled out, "Anyone? Help!" but all that was returned to her was her echo. Surrounded by trees and snow, she wrapped her white coat around her, and followed the tracks.
It was the warmest part of the day, though it didn't help with the cold at all for Madeline. She kept her eyes on the tracks, shuffling her feet through snow to make sure she stayed on tracks, till she could see buildings though the dying snow.
She forced herself to go on even more, her cheeks and fingers became red, and she shook with the cold. She noticed the buildings were larger up close, but they were down in a flat area past a rocky slope.
She grasped a rough edge and slid herself down the side, feet firmly on the rock jutting out underneath her. She leaned down to slide to the next rock over, but just as one foot reached down to the next boulder, she lost her grip, and she slipped down the rocky slope.
Madeline forced herself to get up. She looked at a fence with litter surrounding it, and crawled to it. she gripped the chain-link, weakly pushing through the two separated parts, only linked together by a couple of wooden boards she could step over. She pushed between them, hearing fabric rip as her sleeve caught on the ends of wire, and collapsed on the snow of the other side.
She could hear men yelling. Explosions, too, and gunshots fired. She looked up, and saw the BLU logo, it matched the one on the envelope, and the ticket, and in the letter. As the sounds of yelling, announcements, and weaponry ceased, she passed out in the snow.
"'Ey! 'Ey, wake up."
She grumbled. Her face was wet, her body heat melted the snow she lay in. She looked up to have the sun blind her, and someone stood in front of her, his face shadowed. He leaned down and brushed the snow out of her hair.
"What's a miss like you doin' out 'ere?" He said, voice thick with accent.
Madeline's vision went blurry, and she let her head drop back into the snow again.
"Tch, great. Medic!" He yelled, adjusting his hat. The Medic ran over, supplies on his back, and helped Sniper pull the girl inside the base.
"Vhat is zhis girl doing here?" Medic asked him, pointing to a spare bed for her to use.
"Loik I know that, Doc'," Sniper said. "That train was 'ppost t' arrive this mornin' 'nd it's afta' ceasefire."
"Tch, ve needed zhose recruits today! Ve lost too many men today, I did not see either spies return, and ve lost a few scouts and a pyro." The medic rubbed his temples. "Zhis girl better know zomething about zhat train!"
Medic ordered the Sniper to leave, and to have someone bring him a sandwich later on if someone could. The australian left, mumbling about how he should get his own damn sandwich, when he ran into a scout.
Scouts here usually all came from poor new yorker families, so with a big accent, "Hey! where's some of the other scouts? Been looking for the guys to play some ball with, and-"
"Boy, some of th' scouts died out there," Sniper sighed. "So, they're prolly dead." He continued past Scout, leaving him jaw agape and eyes wide.
She groaned, feeling herself become more conscious, and felt a hand press against her forehead. One eye opened, but her vision was blurry due to her glasses missing.
"Where am I?" She asked. The older Medic explained she was found in the snow nearby, and that she was at the Red base.
"Vhe found a ticket," He started. "Vith zhe BLU logo on it. You are zupposed to be here?"
"Apparently; I got that in the mail." She said. BLU logo, blue train, BLU base? Made enough sense to her.
"Vhat happened to zhe train?" He asked.
She felt nervous, he suddenly had a more serious tone.
"I, I don't know..." She said. "There was a guy telling me we needed to get off the train, and a few other people left my cart a-and there were explosions. T-the train rolled off the tracks, t-that's all I remember..." She breathed, trying to calm down. "Did anyone find anyone else out there?"
"No one alive, so far." He said, curtly. "Ve found that Scout you mentioned, only one vas supposed to be on zhat train. He froze to death, trying to get here. Zhe poor boy almost made it too.
"Any others?"
"Vhe do not know yet, I sent comrades to find zhe train."
"Doktor! Vhere is train? I am so hungry." boomed a voice, causing Madeline to jump in bed. A large figure walked in, at first glance, she thought it was a bear!
"Ach, Heavy! Has anyone unaccounted for returned yet?" The Medic asked the giant man. Madeline hid in the covers, he was giant, and his voice startled her. She watched him straighten up, expecting a calmer tone.
But no, not the case, ever, with this man.
"NO DOKTOR! NO ONE COME BACK, AND NO FOOD. VHERE IS TRAIN, DOKTOR?" His voice echoed out of the room.
The medic patted him on the elbow, already knowing he couldn't reach his shoulder. "Zhere, zhere, take a seat. I'll tell you about the train."
Madeline watched in confusion and fright as a giant man in a war was bawling over the loss of the train. As the Heavy left, Sniper returned, sandwich in hand. He gave half to the Heavy before making his way to medic, dropping it on his clipboard.
"'ere, Doc', your damn sandwich." He said, smirking.
"Unsanitary." Medic said, in a sneering, displeased tone.
The sniper ignored his griping, and grabbed a chair to sit nearby the new recruit.
"SO! Lived through a RED attack on our trains, you're already a marvel to us all, lady." He removed his hat, placing it on his lap. "Where ya' from?"
"Er, Pennsylvania." She said. "So, what is my job here?"
"That's generally decided by a mix o' what we need and what ya' skills are." He grinned. "Wot were ya' doin' before gettin' th' ticket?"
"I was finishing Med school." She said.
"...You are a doctor?" The Medic said, brushing crumbs off his keyboard, sandwich discarded. "Bah. Ve do not need more medics. I und ze ozer are enough!"
"Hey! I was top of my class!" She yelled, flustered by the fact she nearly died, surrounded by men she didn't know in a unfamiliar building.
The medic that complained about having another medic pushed his fingertips to his temples. "Ah... Zhere is nothing ve can do about it now."
"So, can someone explain what I'll be doing?" She asked again. "I'm guessing just helping wounded after the little battles?" The sniper choked on air.
"'Little battles'?" He said, after catching his breath. "Miss, yer' inna full-out war! Even th' medics are out in th' field killin' folks."
"Wha? I didn't go to medical school to-" She complained, before being cut off.
"I'll show you around und get you your battlements." The medic said, moving to one of the many cabinets. Madeline sat up in bed, and then had some sort of gun shoved in her arms. "Zhis is the mini medigun. I have two of zhem, zhey normally hang from zhe ceiling to heal patients overnight or vhen I am away. It should be light enough for you to use. Do not break it."
"Oh, well, glad I can at least heal people." She said. She studied the gun, they definetly didn't say about any technology like this in college.
"Jus' make sure ya' don't 'eal any of them REDs, eh?" Sniper chuckled.
"REDs?" She asked. "The rival team?"
"Could say that, yeah." Medic said. "Zhey have... remarkably good counterparts to us. Like clones. And no doubt zhey have a match for you too, frauline."
"Just remember, miss," Sniper said, as he departed for the door. "Always kill the doctor."
Lucky for her she had the time to learn her way around, for it was a ceasefire. She got several work uniforms, which would have to be her everyday clothes, since she didn't bother to dig for her suitcase in the snow, though Medic told her if it could be salvaged, when the BLU team went through the wreckage that they would bring it to her. She spent a day modifying the clothes to be more snug, loose clothes were a hazard. for the white overcoat, she made a hole in the belt given to her, so it would fit right.
It hurt at first, but her arms got accustomed to carrying the Mini Medigun. She saw the ones belonging to the male Medics and she was glad to get a mini; they had to be three times bigger, and she didn't know how much heavier.
She also quickly learned three things:
Heavies are scary.
Snipers are disgusting.
Scouts are annoying.
She tried to avoid grouping the classes as if they were a whole person, but it was hard to help it. All the Scouts were annoying fast-talkers and fast-walkers.
"Yo, we don't need no ladies on dis' team, a'ite?" He grumbled. She ignored him, and continued sorting through files. They captured all of Viaduct before her arrival, but she was in charge of sorting the information. Since there was no fighting, she had to start work immediately, at least do something to help the BLU cause.
She was through a decent amount of the papers, sorted the blueprints for the engineer and odd encrypted information for the spy, when a ringing alarm echoed through the building. A Soldier ran by, yelling at hte top of his lungs, and several footsteps followed.
"The REDs are advancing, the REDs are advancing, maggots!" He called out. She gathered the papers, and looked quickly for a safe place for them, and decided under the floorboard would be a decent place, for the time being. She followed the footsteps, and everyone was bathering in the doorway, the only BLU Sniper in Viaduct pointing into the distance.
"Saw 'em through me own scope, mates, we got t' take 'em out." He said.
"Ja! Let us go!" Medic yelled. He looked over his shoulder, holding up the full-sized medigun. "Heavy!" His called-out comrade came to the front, and with the german's medigun beam on him, the two paved the way for the rest, as Sniper headed for the loft of the wooden building ahread. Madeline found herself in the back of the pack, with the BLU Pyro.
"Mmph mmh hmm hu hudda mphh?" He said to her. She stared, and just gave a confused nodd, and followed him as he charged head-long into the fight, not knowing what she just answered. She stayed close to him, making sure to stay behind him. She looked up to the ledge, and with a flash of red flying into the sky, she called out to him.
"Pyro! No! Watch o-" Several blinking grenades landed at her feet, She stepped back from the bombs, they seperated her from the still-charging Pyro. Madeline jumped behind a boulder jutting out, clinging the mini-medigun to her torso. Flinching as the explosion happened, and peeking around to make out fighting through the smoke and snow.
She lost the Pyro. Her team's demoman stumbled in front of her, pushing himself against the wall next to her, and she could hear him muttering medic. The young medic helped him to the ground, and put her tiny medigun on him.
"Hold on, hold you, you'll be okay in just a minute or two." She told him. She pulled out an arrow before the flesh healed around it. She heard slow footsteps crunching through the snow, growing louder as it came closer. Madeline looked up to see the RED Medic coming towards her.
She looked around her, and saw Soldier and Scout taking cover together to reload. "Sorry to pass the buck," She thought, knowing full well that Medic was aiming to kill her first. "Kill the doctor first" she thought. Her enemy was following the same advice. She pushed the nearly healed demoman towards Soldier and Scout. "Cover him!"
She forced herself up, pulling out a sharpened saw, but as soon as she was straight, she found herself pinned to the boulder wall. The RED medic had her arm pressed hard against her chest, her legs blocked by the enemy's, with a syringe to her neck. As Madeline's eyes locked with her counterparts, a gunshot fired, cauing her to flinch. Madeline took the chance, flight or fight; she chose flight. She stumbled through the snow, one hand on her neck from the scratch the syringe gave.
The counterpart RED held her shoulder, and gave a look to Madeline, also looking over her shoulder while laying in the snow, still holding her neck. Blood seeped through her white coat, as she back away. Madeline grabbed her saw from the white snow, and noticed battle was ceasing.
She could hear her name being called, but couldn't tell from where it came from. Her vision was shaking, and weakly, she fell into the snow.
"Medic! MEDIC!" She shrieked over, and over again, each more panicked than the last. She felt herself rolled on her back, felt fingers brush hair, snow, and rubble from her face.
"She's bleedin' from her neck, man."
"Her eyes are dialated.."
"Looks loik she's havin' a heart attack, doc'!"
"Ees leetl girl okay?"