"A theme park?"
The words were the first to come out of the mouth of Scout during the briefing, either because he was paying attention, or paying attention to other aspects of Ms. Pauling. Still, his uncomfortable staring didn't completely erase his mind from the briefing.
"Yes Scout, we are going to a theme park." Replied Ms. Pauling in a short tone.
"Yeah but, why?"
Ms. Pauling shot him an I just explained this look. "Scout, I just explained this"
"No I know we're getting a day off from the old lady, but this doesint seem out of the ordinary for her to do?" he looked for his teammates to see if they were a bit skeptical as he was.
"Son, I'm a bit confused as you are, but I'm not going to question the giving hand" replied Engineer, who was also processing this information with a bit of uncertainty. "Is there a rodeo machine?"
Ms. Pauling stifled a laugh. "Its one of the biggest theme parks in the country, of course there is"
With a smile from Engineer, she turned back to the board. "The bad part is," she continued. "SOMEONE may or may not have decided to use our only vehicle to go drag racing, and then cause a shootout killing about 30 gang members."
The room turned to Scout and Heavy.
"No idea what your talking about" said Scout nonchalantly. Ms. Pauling turned her stare to Heavy, who was sucking down the last slice of turkey from his sandwich. "Da, what tiny man says."
Before Scout could glare at him for calling him "tiny man" in front of his not-so-secret-to-anyone-in-the-world-crush on Ms. Pauling, she continued with the briefing.
"Anyway, we've received a new vehicle to go on the overnight trip. It is a combat-enhanced RV, with tiny rooms built in to accommodate all ten of us. I will be driving."
This got a sigh of relief from the 8 members of the team. The only other option was Engineer, but ever since he tried to re enact one of the Jumps from the TV series, "Dukes of Hazard", he was unofficially banned from it.
"Ow did we get an RV so big, aye?" replied a half-drunk Demo man, which at this point was his normal state. Ms. Pauling replied swiftly. "If you must know, we almost caused the nuclear holocaust stealing it from a soviet base, and then converting it into an RV."
"Aye, fair enough."
The team followed Ms. Pauling into the main garage of their base. What awaited them was a semi-truck size RV, that looked like a joy to be in.
"How long is zhe trip?" called out Medic from the back of the group.
"15 hours" Ms. Pauling said. "I got a full night's rest, something which is completely new to me." She said feeling proud, although realizing her statement was sadder than anything else. Thank god she got paid enough, though.
Scout practically dived next to the door into the RV, eager to check out the inside. It was far better than they expected, Cool lights he didn't know the meaning of, a full-sized kitchen and table, and rooms to themselves. He never been inside an RV before, but something told him this was top quality.
The rest of the team soon followed and got accompanied with their surroundings. The hallway next to the rooms led all the way through the RV to the back, which had a porch-like opening with two chairs. Sniper quickly accompanied himself in this area. Nothing beats my old camper. He thought to himself.
Before Medic got in, he debated whether he should bring Archimedes, his favorite bird. Well, not his favorite, but certainly most loyal. He though no better person to ask than…
"Ms. Pauling, do you zhink I should bring zhe bird?"
Ms. Pauling looked up from her purse, fishing out the keys to the RV. She paused for a minute, before glancing setting her purse down. "Will he crap of the carpet?"
Medic seemed confused at first, then laughed. "Oh, heavens no! I surgically implement basic manners in all my birds Ms. Pauling."
Ms. Pauling thought she heard everything but operating on the brains of doves was out of the question. "Can you do the same thing with Scout?" She expected a laugh but got an answer.
"Oh, I thought about it quite often Ms. Pauling, but if I changed him, I'm afraid we just wouldn't have the same Scout is all."
"You guys do realize this RV isn't that big?" called Scout from around the corner of the kitchen.
Medic, cursing at himself in German, failed to find a reply to Scout's comment, and simply ignored it. He thought nothing of it.
But of course, Scout thought the entire world of it. He knew people complained about him, but that's just because they were jealous of him, right? But Ms. Pauling? No way, she was perfect in every way possible. How was she going to be Jealous of him? Was he really that obnoxious?
Scout being Scout of course, jumped to conclusions. Maybe he shouldn't talk unless necessary? Yes, Yes of course! Why hadn't he thought of it sooner? He'll just channel out his boredom into something physical instead of language.
He plopped down his small duffel bag and searched through until he found his trusty baseball. He decided that this was his saving grace, his chance to redeem himself. They might be annoyed with his constant twirling of the ball, but surely, they'll prefer it over his constant talking.
Just then, Spy appeared. In the corner of his room.
Scout jumped a foot into the air, muttering a mix between "shit", "Jesus Christ" and "what the hell" to his coworker. Just coworker, not a fath-
"Just popping in to see your next idiotic move is all. You do manage to impress me sometimes Scout." The French man said with a smirk. Scout then realized something. This was his test, whether Spy had intended it to be or not.
He smiled to himself, and quickly got back to juggling the baseball. Spy was not amused. He should be citing some passages from Solider about French Military history, not ignoring him. He got back to work.
"So, what's the big plan Scout?"
Scout stopped catching the ball and held it in his hand. He shrugged at Spy and continued tossing to himself.
"You aren't using a big plan to woo Ms. Pauling for, say, the thousandth time?"
Scout just shrugged again and headed for the door. Spy stopped him.
"What are you doing?"
"Going out to see what Solider and Demo are up to."
Then, Scout broke away from the conversation and went into the kitchen to where Solider and Demo were talking about different guns. He sat down next to solider and-
Wait. Listened?
No such thing is possible. Right?
Spy's thoughts ran through his mind before it clicked. He is trying to be different. Spy chuckled to himself, did the kid really think he was going to change overnight? He thought better of him to believe so. He'd crack within the hour.
When the RV pulled out of the base and went on the road, that's when Spy decided to start the clock. Within the hour he'd revert to square one.
When he checked up on Scout, Demo, and Solider to see him still listening and only commenting once or twice, his anger turned into observation.
He waded over to Ms. Pauling and sat himself down in the passenger seat. Ms. Pauling glanced at him through the corner of her eyes, and then set back on the barren road, colored orange by sunset.
"Are you hearing something Ms. Pauling?" he asked rhetorically to her.
"Spy, I'm just as confused as you are. Did Medic actually rewire his brain?" she said with a nervous look at him and Scout.
"No, madame". Spy said after a long pause. "I think-" he paused. He knew he was doing it for the team and for her, but would ruining his secret plan be worth it? Or should he let the flames burn themselves?
"I think… Well, I honestly don't know Ms. Pauling."