Chapter 1: Boredom strikes

After the defeat of Gray Mann, all of the mercenaries expected to be fired again, but turns out that with Mann dead and Saxton Hale at the head of Mann Co. again, their already lofty salaries and pensions were returned, and even better, they were told that their jobs were not on the line, and they could return to their gun-filled routine.

However, Saxton Hale was not known for actually thinking stuff through, so the nine professional killers ended up stuck in the middle of nowhere with no BLU team to fight, too much time to waste and heaps of money to burn (In Pyro´s case this was literal). So, as any human being would, they soon grew bored of their seemingly peaceful situation after a few weeks, and began picking up some pretty destructive habits. It went unnoticed to Mann Co. for one or two months, but they soon got a rude wake-up call when Demoman, Engineer and Pyro ended up totaling the base thanks to "scientific curiosity", as they agreed to write on the insurance report.

After a few days of sleeping in a barn while Miss Pauling tried to build up enough credible evidence to get Homeland Security off their backs by making up a freak industrial accident that explained why there would soon be a new lake in the middle of the badlands the next time it rained, the mercenaries got a call from her. Pauling explained that while the mercs´ existence was still a secret, the incident had indeed been traced back to Mann Co., and the situation had quickly snowballed into a Public Relationships disaster after Hale had locked up the investigators with him in a cage and demanded they solved the problem "the Australian way".

To avoid yet another attempted homicide lawsuit against Mann Co., Miss Pauling had to give another group of safety inspectors tours of all the company's properties, which meant sending the team on a well-deserved holiday; which Engineer soon took over to plan the full trip. He soon announced that they all needed to spend some money on something that wasn't a weapon, and that they'd kick off the trip with a visit to a mall.

By the time Miss Pauling remembered she had not told the team to actually dress and act like civilians, everyone had already packed their bags, loaded up whatever vehicle they had with their guns, luggage and food; and were well on their way to what was probably their first vacations ever.