The next day, I think everyone noticed a dramatic difference in the enemy's Spy; he racked up a total of two kills all day. What he was doing the rest of the time is beyond me, but at least he was out of our way. Weird thing was that the only two people he killed were also the only two people I talked to the entire match; Sniper and Engie. That wouldn't be so concerning if they weren't killed only minutes after talking to me. I heard Snipes mumbling under his breath after one of his deaths; with a few curses and utterances of vengeance, he was off to one of his many scattered crow's nests. I stayed down in the intel room for the rest of the fight, cheering whenever someone brought in BLU intel and killing anyone who tried to take our own.

"I am fully charged!" 'Oh shit. These four words are the few that still send a sense of dread through me.' I readied myself for the attack, fully expecting a Heavy and Medic combo to come barging in here with guns blazing and Ubercharge active, when a hand yanked me into an empty resupply closet. I stumbled at the unexpected jarring, feeling my oxygen tank hit the back of the closet. Then I heard the lock slide into place.

The first thing I felt was shock. Then came the righteous indignation. I threw my shoulder against the doors, but they didn't budge. "The enemy has taken our intelligence!" I growled under my breath at the enemy's strategy. 'Take out the guard dog while they're distracted and you don't even have to activate your Ubercharge. Fucking jerks. If I find whoever put my in this-' I threw myself at the door again. 'Damn closet! I swear to GOD I will make their life miserable.'

Unfortunately for me, the resupply closets are too small to really build up any sort of attack to break down the doors. 'Still have my axe.' I smiled as I pulled it out and began hacking at the metal. 'Not how I wanted it to spend its last days, but I can always put in for a new one.' I managed to break the lock, the jagged metal was jutting out in a grotesque manner after I had spent a couple of seconds on it. I leaned back and kicked the door open and out, axe still in hand and blood boiling red hot.

I glanced over at the still empty desk. 'So the other team hasn't secured our intel yet.' Fired up, I charged out of the Intel room. I rounded a corner to find the Baguette leaning against the wall, waiting for me. He took a drag of his cigarette before addressing me, "Are you so eager for death that you run towards it, mon ami?"

Already irritated, I wasted no time incinerating him. I have no time for his riddles when the intel is probably half a map away. The speakers in the hallway crackled to life, "We have secured the enemy intelligence!" 'Don't know when we picked it up, but yay for us!' I threw myself out into the field. Rockets were screaming as they flew into buildings, bullets whistled as they embedded themselves in flesh and bone. I heard the distant beeping of Engie's sentry, but I couldn't place where it was coming from.

I spotted the Heavy the the RED briefcase running for the doorway to the BLU fortress, the Medic nowhere in sight. I fired a flare at him, setting him aflame; his immediate reaction was to scream, turn, and fire his minigun at anything and everything. I dove behind the pile of tires before I could get hit, lucky for me. He looked beyond pissed and I'm sure he wouldn't have stopped until his ammo was gone. In the distance, I heard rockets fire and the same Heavy's scream. "The enemy has dropped our intelligence!" I cheered inwardly at my teammates' success so far.

The next couple of battles were similar in regards to who won and who lost, but after about a four day winning streak on our part, the BLU Spy decided to go on a frenzy of his own. He went from killing one or two a match to killing anyone insight. Which begs the question- How have I avoided him so well so far without even trying? I haven't been killed once by him.

I was spy-checking when Scout came out of the respawn room, pissed as all Hell, "I swear to GOD, if that creep kills me outside of respawn again, I'm gonna bash his brains in!" I chuckled at Scout's apparent misfortune. "What're you laughin' at, chucklenuts?" I shrugged and went back to watching the perimeter. About three minutes later, Scout was stabbed in the back.

The only reason I mention this is because the Baguette would've had to pass by me to get to Scout. Which is why I am currently on high-alert mode. And camped by the sentry. And highly confused. 'He could've killed me. I wasn't with anyone else who could've avenged my death. He should've killed me. It's his job. But he didn't kill me. He went right past me and killed the Scout.'

I suppose what bothers me most about this is that I haven't the slightest clue what he hopes to gain. 'Paranoia in the target? Check.' I thought for a moment. 'Y'know, that's all I think a Spy ever looks to gain. So now what I want to know is why hasn't he killed me yet? Not that I'm complaining, but it makes you wonder if he isn't building up to some grand torment- or something.' I shook the thoughts away and decided to change my location. After all, idle hands are the Devil's playthings, or something like that.

We just barely won that day, both teams trudged back to their relative bases at the 17:00 alarm exhausted. I was on my way back to my room when I felt someone tug on my suit. I turned and came face-to-face with the BLU Spy in the flesh. Adrenaline still pumping from the fight, I slammed him into the wall beside us. He held his hands up.

"Mon Dieu, is this 'ow you treat everyone who just wants to chat?" I felt my nose crinkle up at his care-free attitude. *If you want to 'chat,' you can talk in the interrogation room.* He nodded. "I guessed you'd say zhat. And after all of zhe trouble I went through to avoid killing you for an entire work week. I must say, you leave far too many openings-" I slammed him against the wall and continued the walk in silence.

Another rule of taking in prisoners of war is that whoever brings them into the interrogation room must be the one to start the interrogation. 'So much for rest and relaxation to start the weekend off.'

After putting him in his seat and securing his handcuffs, I sat down in my own. He leaned in, his eyes narrowed, "You confuse me, Pyro."

I huffed a laugh. *That makes two of us, because with everything I've seen from you, you're a fucking enigma!*

He shook his head and leaned back, "Non, my behaviors are what baffle you. But with you, everything about you confuses me. For example, when you could've tortured me, you instead treat me like a human being. When you could wait out a battle, you instead break yourself out and run into zhe fray. But zhe most puzzling to me-" he took a steadying breath, "Is why, after I refused to talk to any of your comrades but finally spoke to you, did you decide to paint zhe walls with my brains?!" All-throughout his mini-rant, I stared at him blankly. This is the son-of-a-bitch who practically shoved me into that closet.

Keeping my rage at a low simmer, I answered with a level tone, *To answer your first statement, you are a human and it would be foolish to treat you as anything else. Your second, it's my job. Your third, because you were testing boundaries.* His jaw was clamped shut as I said all of this, *Are we done here, because I'd like to get on with my weekend.*

I already had the shotgun cocked by the time he reacted. "Wait! I would like to make a deal with you." I waited for him to go on, when he saw I wasn't going to shoot, he spoke, "On any given day of my choosing, I will surrender myself into your custody after ceasefire 'as been called. I will give you any information I can find: blueprints, schematics, schedules, anything!"

I tilted my head. *So what do you want in return?* He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. His eyes were drilling holes into the tabletop.

"I- I would like to spend time with you." He glanced up at me to gauge my reaction, even though outwardly I showed nothing. Screw my vision going blank, my entire circuit board just fried. 'The Hell? What kind of masochist is this guy?' His eyes were full of hope and anxiety. 'Does he seriously think I'll say yes to this deal? Is he insane?' As these thoughts pooled in my head, the hope in his eyes turned to worry and the anxiety shifted to fear.

'Then again, 'spend time with' doesn't have to mean romantically. For all I know, he just wants to sit by the fire and crack a beer open, but he doesn't have anyone at his base who wants to join him in any worthwhile discussions. So he came to the next best thing: his own personal puzzle from the other team.'

Not knowing what else to do, the BLU Spy threw in his trump card. "I brought half of a file with me, if you would like a taste for what information I can give you." Interest piqued, I nodded. *Where is it?*

"In my coat pocket."

*Which side?*

"It's on my right."

Handcuffs, you see, make for painfully awkward situations. I leaned over him and unbuttoned his jacket just so I could slip a hand in to grab the folder, then I re-buttoned his jacket. I didn't miss the fact that he leaned into me slightly, nor did I miss how he breathed in as if he had been starved of air for the last hour. Or how he shivered.

I flipped open the folder and leaned against the wall. The information printed looked like ammo shipments for the BLU team, but the information was incomplete. No dates or times were written anywhere on the form, nor was the information on where these shipments were coming in from. I sighed.

*So if I accept your deal, I'll get Intel like this, complete and true?* He nodded eagerly. I aimed the shotgun at his head. *I'll think about it.* His blood and brain matter painted the walls for the second time after I shot him. 'Sure he'll be happy about that.'

After Respawn claimed the last of the blood, I threw the folder on the table and let out a sigh of exasperation. From my left, I heard the rustling of cloth. 'Look who finally decided to join the party.'

"You should take zhe offer. Zhat extra information could finally end zhis war between these two teams with us being zhe victors." I glanced over at Spy tiredly. *And if he were to give bad information? I could lead our men into an ambush.* He shook his head. "I doubt 'e would do zhat to you."

*Why? Because he wants to get rid of some sexual tension?* Spy scoffed at that. "With zhe way he was looking at you? Oh please, his eyes looked like they worship zhe very ground you walk on." He patted me on the shoulder. "We'll get something set up so 'e can't use zhis against you if you do agree." I nodded in thanks before bidding him goodnight and walking out.

I ambled down the hallway, my thoughts were racing a mile a minute. 'If what Spy said is true, then this could be advantageous for our team. But then, playing on someone's emotions for emotions for information makes me just as bad as the Spies, doesn't it?' I rubbed my forehead in frustration. 'If one or both parties don't like the setup, is there a choice to backout or is it set the second you accept?'

I kicked a bit of rubble. 'I don't think I should accept this deal. There are too many questions and unknowns for my liking. Besides that, I have too much of a trigger finger to sit down and talk them out with the Baguette.' I opened the door to my room and flopped down onto my bed, gracefully as a Pyro can flop on a bed, of course. 'Why couldn't this job have been like every other job? Go in, kill the guy, burn the evidence, destroy everything in sight, get paid. Simple. But this job… It really takes the cake when it comes to complexity. Nine mercenaries versus nine identical mercenaries, all fighting because two brothers want the same plot of land in an empty wasteland. The Respawn System was probably introduced because they're money-grubbing bastards and they don't want to waste money, time or resources in hiring new mercenaries each time one or two die.'

I chuckled to myself silently. 'It's all so very funny; but not wanting to waste money, they invented something that should've taken hundreds of years to develop.' I rubbed my chest where my first death welcomed me in the form of the BLU Sniper's bullet. 'I'd tell you I still have nightmares, but considering everything else that's happened, bleeding to death is like a blessing.' I nuzzled into my blankets and drifted into sleep, tired from the stress of the day and looking forward to having an escape in my dreams.