I realize that there are grammatical errors and such that plague my pages, but please understand I have a time limit in which I must abide to write and it doesn't give me much room for reading over said pages. I'll try to go back and fix my errors, but if you could please bring these errors to light for me, that would be greatly appreciated. The fact that I have no patience for betas may have something to do with it. xD

Oh, let's just get down to Tracy and the gang. Who cares about the author's notes!


The darkness was greatly welcomed, and the absence of sweat surprised her. Heat was no longer plaguing her arms and legs and back, instead a cooling air washed over her, causing a slight chill. Tracy attempts to get up, to move, but finds herself either strapped down or her body refusing her commands. Not that she could necessarily blame it. She had put it through such agony these past four or five days, and having even an hour of rest would cause an immediate shutdown. Not that she was complaining, the cool air on her forehead and neck felt amazing. Despite her lazy state, she opened her eyes to the dim room, hearing explosions off in the distance.

What greeted her was the sight of the RED Engineer sitting beside her, goggles on a nearby wooden crate, his hardhat set up near the seat as if he had been holding it but had slipped his fingers as he drifted off. His eyes were closed, his arms resting loosely on his lap, his head slightly tilted away towards the open door. Slowly the Thief sat up, the crates she laid upon creaking. The room was quiet besides the cries of pain and gunshots in the distance. There was an oil lamp sitting nearby and a bottle of water. Quickly, she grabbed the bottle and gulped it down, her fingers a bit slower than her brain wanting it to be. After she drank her fill, she set the bottle back down on the crate and began to look around the room, wondering if the Engineer was her captor. The Engineer seemed to be without weapons, except for the wrench in his utility belt. The room was filled with crates, many layered with dust that had accumulated over the years of disuse. Others had imprints of where people had sat to rest, dark stains on the floor implying either blood or water was spilt. The room was small and rather shaped like a fat L with no visible light switches. It seemed the oil lantern was the only source of available light.

Rolling over, Tracy fiddled with the oil lantern's keys until a dim light began to fill the room. The oil lantern seemed to be in need of oil or perhaps relighting, but as long as there was a little light Tracy was comfortable. The Engineer nearby fidgeted in his sleep, and slowly began coming back to the living as the light began to become brighter. Locking eyes with the Thief, the Engineer smiled calmly and crossed his arms, "Nice to see you didn't die in your sleep."

"Same to you." She smirked, running a hand through her greasy, short, sandy-blonde hair.

The Engineer made a show of rolling his eyes before adjusting himself in his seat, picking up his hard hat to plop it onto his head. He left the goggles untouched, however, perhaps out of need to see clearly in the dim room. "We were all kinda wondering how you managed to crawl your way out of the desert alive. Your team told us that the back car of your train was detached and crashed."

"I'd like to know why exactly the train was attacked in the first place." The Thief's mood immediately plummeted when the train was mentioned, the body of the Medic popping into mind. "I could give you horror stories of what I had to do back there to survive, but first I'd like an explanation."

The Engineer appeared mildly surprised but said nothing of her 'horror stories' and began to explain. "Well, I'll tell yah it wasn't us for starters. Our train was being attacked at about the same time your's was. We thought it was probably your team, but seeing as how those shiny suckers weren't flesh and blood like you we pretty much understood what was happening. It was around yesterday after the first few waves of machines hit when the Announcer finally dropped us a line and filled us in herself."

"Yeah, I saw one of them up-close. They're robots, right?" Tracy shrugs her aching shoulders as she speaks, her sun-burnt shoulders trembling with pain as they make contact with the fabric of her shirt. "They seem too... mass-produced to be man-made."

"Yer' pretty much right." The Engineer nods, slumping down slightly in his seat. "These suckers are the brainchild of the long lost brother of the Manns, Blutarch and Redmond. Oh, did I forget to mention he killed them both?"

The Thief's eyes widen, "Wait wait wait, you mean to tell me the guy that's suppose to be payin' us is dead? Both RED and BLU's payroll is being cut?"

"Well, Mann Co. is still running as far as we know..." The RED Engineer rubs the back of his head as he speaks, unsure of the information he has himself. "The man who killed our bosses is the long lost brother of the two, Grey Mann. Anyways, I guess he got jealous or something, killed them both, and decided he wanted Mann Co. too since he believes it's his birthright. All we know is that we're under Mann Co.'s pay now and it's our job to hold this front until we're either all killed, we win, or somehow we're all fired."

"Why don't we just leave now?" Tracy cocks a brow, hazel eyes twinkling with a mixture of confusion and amusement.

The Engineer shrugs, "Would you pass up pay this good? At any case the robots we're fightin' run, get this, money, so fightin' em seems to be just a plus."

"This seems ridiculous." The Thief replies flatly before taking another drink from the water bottle, wetting her lips.

"You bet it is." The RED smirks, "But as far as I can see this ain't gonna last too long. We've been hearing from other sides that there's teams bein' beat down, and it's likely we'll have to move soon."

"Fantastic." Tracy replies, pushing herself from the cot to stand. The Engineer stands as well, helping her from the bed. "Is the Respawn system still active?"

"It's been workin' round the clock for a few days now. In fact, your BLU Medic arrived yesterday." The Texan smiles as he watches the awed look on her face split into a smile. "He was a mite worried 'bout you, but calmed down when he found you alive and well."

"I'm gonna have to have a word with that man." Tracy snorts, but her happiness permeates the air. "Scarin' me into thinking he'll never show his face again."

"He's out and about for the moment, helping the team with the machines." The Engineer replies, leading her from the room to a main area that leads off to separate rooms. They seem to be supply stations, where a few teammates spawn nearby to fill back up. Tracy herself catches sight of the RED Thief gathering supplies at the area, locking eyes with her for a moment, before speeding off through the door. Tracy winces and grits her teeth but doesn't mention her irritation with the sight of the RED.

"Here you are." The Engineer helps her past a roped off area which harbors a small, pitiful looking bathroom. It seems that water had been filled in it manually, with the stopper at the drain having been stuck in and tin buckets littering the floor. A small, dingy mirror reflects the Thief's poor appearance, making the girl groan. Most of the blood that had littered her face and neck had been cleaned off, but blood still stained her clothes and her hair was still a greasy mess. Her shoulders and parts of her face were red from sun-burn, and other parts of her skin were a tan brown from exposure. The Engineer helps her onto the wooden seat of the toilet before mentioning he'll be nearby if she needs help. She thanks him before he leaves and begins to strip stiffly, her bones protesting the stretch of pulling her shirt off. When she's finally naked she kicks the rags that were once clothes away and decides to burn them before turning to test the water.

The water's about room temperature due to the possibility that it had been sitting here for awhile. Tracy hopes she's the first one to be using this water, but decides that pre-used bath water was probably better than nothing to get her clean. She slips into the tub with a few splashes, dunking her head underwater and scrubbing her body and hair with ages old lye soap, ridding herself of the blood and sweat that dried across her skin. Within a few minutes she's clean, but she takes a few minutes to relax in the water, allowing her muscles to uncurl. For a minute or two it feels as if she's drifting into sleep, but she's soon to snap awake by the sound of footsteps.

From the door appears a Medic dressed in RED garb, however she recognizes his expressions and his stance as he walks, and immediately smiles. He smiles back, however contains himself and sets a change of clothes on the wooden toilet seat before leaning down beside the tub to pat the Thief's damp hair. "It's good to see you, mein freund."

"You too." The Kansas woman replies before narrowing her brows slightly, "I'm not forgiving you for freaking me out in that cave though."

The German rolls his eyes before smiling wider, realizing she was simply being playfully mad. "I realized we couldn't be too far from the town and the fact that I was slowing you down was simply too much for my fever-addled mind to handle. Sacrificing myself seemed the most logical option at the time. I apologize for worrying you, if it makes any difference."

"I accept your apology." Tracy smiles back a bit wider before having the Medic help her from the tub and dry her off. She doesn't much notice this action is a bit intimate, but this man was a doctor, and to be quite honest her closest friend. And he seemed not to mind helping her. After she finally pulls on her usual uniform, albeit RED, she's allowed to hobble out into one of the supply rooms to speak with the Medic.

"So, we're apart of the RED Team now, eh?" The Thief asks, not disguising the lack of enthusiasm in her voice.

The Medic nods with a rather empathetic look in his eye, scratching the side of his jaw as he leans against the wall with her. "Believe me, I am not entirely happy with the change myself, but the RED Engineer's targeting system seems only able to take a target team and an ally team into it's system, and has no room for a neutral team. At least, that's what he tells me. The fact is as well that we are not getting our usual supply drops. Mann Co. is simply being stretched to it's limits as it tries to cover all territory it can reach. Sharing clothes seems to be the norm now."

"Fantastic." Tracy rolls her eyes, "But I suppose I can deal with it for the moment. But what exactly are we gonna do after all this ends anyways? Our bosses are dead."

"Not exactly..." The Medic mumbles, but their conversation is cut short as a Scout runs in asking for help. The Medic joins the Scout, leaving the once BLU now RED Thief alone with her thoughts.

She may be RED now, but she's BLU underneath.

Call it crazy loyalty.


I'm gonna try to follow canon as best I can, which means the comics. I will have my own spin on things and this will have multiple Soldier and Scout characters, but they'll be labelled from Tracy's viewpoint.

To be continued...