The battle of the day was in full swing. The RED team had already captured the first point and was fighting hard to get to the second. It was hard as hell though; the BLU Engineer had placed his turret in the worst place possible (for the RED team, anyway), and as far as Scout could see his team's Spy couldn't do anything about it. The poor bastard was being hounded by the other Pyro. Maybe it served him right for messing with them yesterday, but Scout couldn't laugh at the Frenchman's misfortune this time. Not when a constantly ÜberCharged BLU Medic was allowing their Heavy to tear through his team like paper when the rest of the enemy team wasn't fucking them all over.
Scout groaned as he stumbled out of the respawn machine, holding his aching head. The respawn machine was a literal work of miracles, but the lingering pains of the previous death always stuck around for a little while. In this case, the BLU Sniper had blown his damn brains out and his head still screamed at the pain. It dulled quickly, but Scout still needed a moment to compose himself before going back out to kick some ass.
Just as he had gained his composure, he heard the sound of someone stumbling out of respawn just as he had. Scout turned around to see his team's Pyro, who was leaning against the wall and holding where he assumed their stomach was. Poor thing.
"Good luck out there, man," Scout said, giving them a smile when they turned the mask to face him.
He considered asking about Pyro's wellbeing, but after checking how much time they had left to capture the damn point, he decided to cut the conversation short with a thumbs up before running out to kick ass and take names. In spite of the rush of battle, he noted that it took a little longer than usual for Pyro to come out. He brushes it off before running in, only to be sent back into the respawn room once more... And then a few other times.
At this point, Scout was ready to accept defeat. He was pissed about it, and there was definitely going to be some complaining after they all returned to their bases, but there didn't seem to be a way into victory. The BLU team had too much going for them this time.
But regardless of whether or not they would lose, there was no way in hell he was going to hide before the round was even over. It was the least prideful thing he could think of doing... Plus, more than one of his subordinates would be on his ass about it for the rest of his life, especially Spy. The hypocritical bastard.
With guns blazing and a battle cry, he ran right into the fray... And then into Pyro before the world went white, and everything changed.
Later, if someone were to ask Scout what he and Pyro became, he couldn't give a sensible answer. In that moment, Scout wasn't him anymore, and yet... He kind of was. He was also a little bit of Pyro, who wasn't quite themselves, either. It was like someone had taken the pair of them and... Fused them together, turning them into one being.
When they opened their eyes (all three of them), one thing that stood out was how everything looked... Soft. Thanks to Scout, they could see everything as it really was, but... Softer, like they were taking the rose-tinted glasses metaphor literally. Everything was in pastels and the blood on the ground and walls shone and sparkled much more than it should've. In Scout's mind, anyway. The second thing that caught their attention was how much taller they were now. Before, they could really only tower Engie, but now they were even taller than Heavy, who, like everyone else, ignored the objective in favor of staring at them.
They looked down at themselves to find that even their clothes were an odd amalgamation of Scout's and Pyro's old clothes. They appeared to have Pyro's boots and suit, but it was tied around their waist to reveal a red tank top on their torso. A look at their nose found that it, and the bottom half of their face, was hidden by a gas mask. The gloves that hid Pyro's hands were shorter, revealing the wrapping that still remained on their hands from Scout. In one hand was a longer version of Scout's bulky scattergun, and in the other... Their flamethrower.
As they considered attempting to finish the fight, a grin spreading across their hidden face at the idea, the sound of the Administrator's speakers brought them back down from their thoughts.
"Return to your bases," she snapped, almost sounding shaken. This must have shocked her as well if she could sound so... Human, for once. "This mission is canceled, and so are the rest until we get this sorted out."
An hour after returning to their base, the RED mercenaries managed to get a grasp on what just happened and had begun to try and piece everything together. Firework, as Engie affectionately called them, sat on the loveseat while Medic became engrossed in observing the larger being, looking at their clothes and their larger than normal anatomy. They didn't mind though, they were as curious about it as he was. Though, they objected he tried to take the mask by swatting his hands away. Thankfully, the doctor was gracious enough to leave it alone for the time being, instead opting to look at what he could see of their face.
Meanwhile, Soldier, Engie, Demo, and Sniper sat on the rest of the furniture, discussing their theories behind Scout and Pyro's sudden fusion. Spy and Heavy leaned against the wall, listening in on the theorizing while occasionally having a quiet conversation of their own. From what they gathered, Soldier thought that his crazy old friend Merasmus had something to do with it. While Demo agreed that it might've been some crazy old wizard, he wasn't sure it was their crazy old wizard. After all, wouldn't he have taken credit for this ages ago? Sniper suggested that it may have been the aliens. While it was a likely suggestion, they agreed that they would've seen or heard about previous signs beforehand. Firework, personally, was in favor of the wizard theory, though they couldn't convey this verbally; they recalled how hard it was for Pyro to talk without sounding muffled due to his mask, they weren't going to bother with trying.
"Are we sure this is something otherworldly?" Engie piped up. "I mean, maybe for once this is a science thing? Maybe the respawn machine did something to them? Or maybe Medic..." He cut himself off to look at said doctor, who was either oblivious or was pointedly ignoring the unsaid accusation.
Spy seemed to catch on to the Texan's implication, because he moved away from the wall he was leaning on and called in a warning tone, "Docteur."
"Yes, Spy?" The doctor inquired, refusing to look back at the Frenchman. Instead, he focused his gaze on the fusion, giving them a silent plea.
If the bastard thought that they were going to let him off the hook, then he was sorely mistaken. Firework picked the visibly nervous Medic up and turned him around, forcing him to face the rest of his team. Maybe they couldn't give him a tongue lashing, but the other mercenaries certainly could.
"... Doc, what the hell did you do?" The engineer asked, clearly angry. They had to give props to him for keeping it so well-contained.
"... We-Well," Medic began, pausing to clear his throat. "You see... I was doing a side job for the Administrator. You all have those sometimes, ja?" A wave of disgruntled agreement rose throughout the room. It wasn't uncommon for her to ask Scout or Pyro to do something for her, whether it be small or, well, weren't surprised to learn that she asked something of the other mercenaries; they all had skills that were useful to her. "Well, when I was testing my creation on myself, I found that the only thing that happened was that my stamina increased slightly. I wanted to test it more, so... I asked if I could give it to you all during your latest checkups."
There were various reactions to the news, none of them particularly positive. Soldier didn't seem to grasp the situation, Heavy and Demo grimly accepted the news, and the other three... Absolutely livid.
"What the bloody fuck?" Sniper snapped, shooting straight up. Behind the couch, Spy was glaring daggers into Medic's skull, and Engie was absolutely indignant as he went on a tangent about asking his teammate's permission for such a thing.
Clearly, the doctor wasn't getting the hint. "But everyone's performance has gotten so much better!"
The shorter man pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well, that's fine and dandy, Doc, but there's a bit of a problem when our teammates randomly fuse out of nowhere!" He gestured to the fusion angrily. Pyro made a note to stick with him after they were unfused, while Scout made a note to not bother the man too much for a little while.
Before Medic could reply, Miss Pauling walked in, stopping at the entrance upon seeing Firework, her eyes wide and mouth open. Their mood immediately brightened when they saw her, getting off the couch and making their way towards her.
She stared for a moment longer before asking, "... So this is... Scout and Pyro?" They nodded, smiling widely behind the mask. She gave a small, nervous one in response before looking over at the other mercenaries. "... So do we know how to unfuse them?" The responding silence let her know that they didn't. She let out a sigh. "Well, that's okay for now. Why don't we see what we can learn in the meantime, and along the way we can see if we can undo it."
Firework nodded. While they would've liked to split up soon, they supposed that learning about this new development wouldn't be such a bad idea.
After some time in the shooting range, Firework hadn't learned to unfuse, but there was one thing that they had learned: Pyro and Scout saw fire very differently. What came out of their flamethrower was completely different from what the other was expecting. Pyro expected the usual rainbows and happiness, and Scout expected orange-tinted destruction. Instead, the fire was a destructive, colorful force that took the fusion's breath away. It seemed to glitter and shine in a way that Scout had only seen on diamonds, and the way it moved was eye catching and unique to Pyro. Both had the sudden urge to try and touch the fire, but Scout quickly put an end to that.
They also discovered that they could summon each individual weapon instead of just odd, fused versions. They weren't sure where they came from, but they were beginning to suspect that Merasmus was involved after all. That didn't matter, though. They could burn that bridge when they got to it. For now, they both wanted to try and unfusing.
It took a lot of concentration, an unimaginably large amount of effort just to concentrate , and a frustrated Scout, but eventually the pair managed to unfuse as quickly as they had fused, both ending up on the floor. After a minute of staring up at the ceiling- only two eyes, that was a good sign- Scout sat up and looked down at himself. Back to his normal, beautiful self. He looked up to find Pyro holding a hand out for him.
"Thanks, man," he grinned, taking the outstretched hand and standing up.
After a meeting with the other mercenaries, Miss Pauling, and a monitor showing the Administrator's tired, gaunt face, some new revelations came to light: somehow the BLU Medic had gotten a hold of RED Medic's serum, so the other team would be able to fuse as well. Medic had no way of reversing the effects, so the Administrator allowed fusion to be used in battle... Only after all of the mercenaries practiced fusion, understanding how it works, which meant a week off of missions.
This was going to be interesting...
I hope yall enjoyed this one!