Chapter 2 - Torn

Spy and Sniper ran back into the base with Spy still carrying Scout. The rest of the team, with all of their things ready to get on the train to Viaduct, were waiting for them inside at the entrance. Medic quickly made his way to Spy to check on Scout with Soldier in tow, ready to interrogate the two latecomers.

"What the hell took you maggots so long!" shouted Soldier. "We had to stomach Pyro's coffee this morning instead of yours, Spy, so you'd better have a damn good reason for not being here!" A dejected moan came from Pyro after Soldier's comment. "And explain to me why Scout is out of commission! I want a full run-down on what happened!"

"I went out searching for Scout since he hadn't returned from his run," answered Spy. That part was true. "Sniper found me just as I had found Scout." Also true. "Scout must have collapsed with a fever from his run this morning." That part wasn't true. Sniper wasn't amazed at Spy lying to Soldier and making it believable; it was part of his line of work, after all.

"Is Tiny Scout okay?" asked Heavy, worried for his little friend.

"He vill be fine," answered Medic, sounding a bit annoyed. "He just needs sleep."

"Soldier, if you'd like, I could let Scout sleep in my camper while we're travelin'," volunteered Sniper. "The train doesn't 'ave a bed, if I remember correctly." Soldier pondered on the offer for a bit, then nodded.

"Very well! He can ride with you!" he answered. Spy looked at Sniper.

"I will ride with you, as well, if you don't mind," he said. "Someone has to watch over Scout while you're driving."

"Not a problem, mate," replied Sniper. He made eye contact with Spy, looking as if he was reading a message in his eyes. He then turned to Soldier. "D'ya think the intel will be safe in the camper, too? Those RED wankers are more likely to hijack a train than a camper."

"Spy check!" cried Engineer as he punched Sniper in the face with his ungloved hand. Sniper's head snapped to the side upon contact with Engineer's fist as he lost his balance, staggering a bit. Seeing no change in their ally, Engineer smiled. "I don't think the REDs would try anything during a ceasefire, but you can never be too sure. I say let Sniper take the intel with him."

"Fine, permission granted!" growled Soldier. "Sniper: Take Scout to your van! Spy: go get yours and Scout's things! Engie: grab the intel and take it to the van! The rest of you maggots get on the train! We leave at 0900 hours SHARP!"

His vision was foggy. He felt smaller, like he was reliving a memory. He felt like he was being carried by someone. He looked up and saw that it was his mother, but she was younger. He looked at his hands and noted how tiny they were.

"What the hell?" he thought. "Why am I a toddler again?" He then saw a man dressed in brown pants and a red dress shirt approach his mother and him. He couldn't see anything above the man's nose, but he seemed familiar. He eyed the man's dog tags around his neck. "Those…are my dog tags…" He reached for them with his tiny hands and grabbed them, tugging lightly.

"Woah there, Kiddo!" laughed the man. The man smiled and took off the dog tags, placing them around the toddler's neck. He took the dog tags into his hand and jiggled them, giggling at the sound they made. The man ruffled the little tuft of hair the boy had, smiling warmly. "They're yours now, my son."

"Do you really have to go?" asked his mother sadly. "It seems like you just got here."

"I'm afraid I must, mon petit chou-fleur," replied the man. "I will keep in touch, as usual." The man then looked at him, cupping the toddler's face with his right hand, frowning a bit. "As much as I adore this little one, I'm afraid…it's for the best if he doesn't know who I am. I don't want him to follow in my footsteps or be ostracized by his brothers."

"I understand," sighed his mother. "Please be careful, my love." He could feel his father's hand slowly and hesitantly leave his face as he saw the man step back. The last thing he saw before his vision faded to white was his father walking away, looking over his shoulder.

"Good-bye, my little one…"

Scout opened his eyes slightly, then shut them immediately when the bright light hit his eyes without warning. The first thing he realized when regaining consciousness was that he was in a warm bed and it was moving. He could hear an engine running and papers lightly shuffling. When he finally was able to open his eyes, he realized he was in Sniper's camper. Spy was sitting at a table next to the cot Scout was lying down in, going through the papers in their team's briefcase. He sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Spy looked up from what he was doing and smirked.

"Ah, you're awake," he commented.

"Oi!" cried out Sniper from the driver's seat. "G'mornin', Sleepin' Beauty!"

"Yeah yeah, real funny, Snipes," groaned Scout, obviously cranky.

"How are you feeling?" asked Spy with a hint of concern in his voice. "You were running a bit of a fever there." Spy took off his leather glove and placed the back of his hand against Scout's forehead. "You don't seem to be running one now."

"I'm feelin' okay." Scout then frowned a bit, looking down at his dog tags around his neck, taking them into his right hand. "Just…I don't know." He clutched them tightly, a torn look on his face. "I'm just so confused right now! I mean, he's a RED, for cryin' out loud!"

"Are you talkin' about your dad being the RED Spy?" asked Sniper. Scout tensed up.

"You guys know!" Spy nodded slightly.

"Sniper just found out today, like you. I've actually known for a while," he confessed. Scout suddenly lunged out of bed and grabbed Spy by the collar of his suit with both hands, ready to toss him across the van.

"Why didn't you tell me then!" he screamed. He quickly regretted moving so quickly when a wave of dizziness hit him and he leaned into Spy, who held him firmly to keep him from falling.

"As I told your father, it wasn't my place to say anything." Scout clung tighter to Spy's suit, half angry, half upset.

"Yeah, some father he is…he didn't even want me to know who he was! What kind of parent does that!"

"I'm assuming he felt it was for your own well-being that you didn't know. Come on, let's get you back into bed." Scout made his way back to the bed with Spy's help and sat down on it. Just then, Sniper drove over a bump in the road, which caused Spy to lose his footing and fall on top of Scout, catching both men off guard. Scout and Spy looked at each other for a few moments as their faces turned beet red from the compromising position the two were in. Scout quickly pushed the older man off of him and buried his face into the pillow, pulling the blanket over his head.

"Freakin' gay, man!" yelled Scout into the pillow. Sniper just laughed, having seen the whole thing in his rear view mirror. Spy muttered a few swear words in French and stood back up, going back to the briefcase and reading through papers. Scout poked his head out from the blanket. "So…why are you going through our intel? Isn't that supposed to be top secret or somethin'?"

"It is, but there's something that's been bothering me for a while, as well as your father." Scout cocked an eyebrow. Spy was about to light a cigarette before he continued.

"No smokin' in the camper while Scout's in 'ere!" ordered Sniper. Spy groaned and put his unlit cigarette away as Scout snickered.

"Fine. Anyway, the higher ups for our companies have to do background checks on everyone they hire, mostly to see if there are any alliances between the potential employee and the opposing company. What we want to know is why they didn't catch the relation between you and the RED Spy. To be honest, you shouldn't even really be fighting in this crazy war, let alone for BLU." Scout's eyes widened in shock.

"'Ave you found anythin' yet, Spy?" asked Sniper. Spy furrowed his eyebrows.

"Not yet. Everything seems to be written in some kind of code. I'll need more time to decode it."

"Can you do it in ten minutes? Because that's 'ow long we've got until we get to Viaduct." Spy facepalmed.

"Oh, merde…"

"Can't you just take pictures with your camera beard or somethin' to look at them later with?" asked Scout. Spy stared at Scout in disbelief for a few moments, making the boy feel a little awkward.

"Sniper, I think we've had a breakthrough with Scout!" he cried out. "He came up with a good idea for once!" Scout grabbed the pillow and chucked it at Spy as the other two men laughed.

"Shut up, Frog Legs!" After a moment, Scout began to laugh with his friends. Sniper then cleared his throat.

"In all seriousness, mate," he began, "y'can't tell anyone 'bout what we're doin'. This is some dangerous business that we could all get into a whole 'eap of trouble with. Can y'keep quiet 'bout this?" Scout looked down at his dog tags, once again taking them into his hand. Sniper could see Scout's movements in his rear view mirror. "Your dad's gonna look through 'is team's intel, too, to see if he can find anythin'. It was 'is idea in the first place."

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Scout clutched his dog tags tightly, his fist shaking a bit. He just couldn't believe he was in the middle of an inter-company conspiracy! He didn't really want to help the man that essentially abandoned him as a child and kept his mother worrying all the time about his safety, but at the same time, he wanted to know more about the RED Spy just out of pure curiosity. And if there was some way to end the war so he could make it back home to his mother and brothers, he was all for it.

He had been out on the front lines for almost half a year now, and he found it odd how both teams only fought on a nine-to-five schedule, had special barriers around battlefields that allowed fighters to respawn after being killed, and there were nine people on each team, each having a counterpart in their "classes". It was almost as if the war was some kind of game to the higher ups, and the fighters on both teams were merely pawns.

Scout gave Spy a serious look, which caught the Frenchman off guard with how serious the teen looked.

"Let's do this."