Chapter 2
Although her cloak seemed to not be running out, her fear kept her rooted to the ground. Silently she cursed, mad that she'd been degraded to hiding in a corner in a way that couldn't be called productive. It wasn't spy-like at all, or not in her books at least, but it was the only chance she had at surviving. Not knowing what else to do she peered at the group, listening.
"Is it just me, or does it feel like someone's watching us?" the scout muttered, feeling the spy's eyes on the back of his head. Upon hearing this she shifted her gaze quickly and took a few careful steps to her right, though it was too late. They were already suspicious, knowing she was a spy and that she could be anywhere.
"Medic's still alive, though his breathing is shallow. He might know something about her whereabouts, since they seemed to be together and all," the sniper said, poking the medic's leg with the tip of his kukri gently.
"Mahbeh we shoul' take 'im back to the base, question 'im," the demoman suggested. It was just a way to get back to the base so he could divulge himself in his stores of liquor, but it was a suggestion that would work to their benefit as well.
"Yes, take the man prisoner! A prisoner of war, just like the old times... now those were times when people knew respect and the proper way to kill a man," the soldier chuckled, taking a moment to fondly remember his time in the war.
"Yeah, yeah! We'll keep him in the BLU base, keep him locked up," the scout agreed, a devilish smile flickering across his face as he thought of having a prisoner in his possession.
"Hold on a minute," the sniper spoke up, interrupting the scout's thoughts, "Way I understand it, you over at BLU suffered some heavy losses because of that pyro. And not to mention you won't be getting any new recruits any time soon because you're transport ship was just shot down. RED has more people and we're more equipped for dealing with prisoners. And this time I'll make sure nothing goes wrong."
"Fine, but if we want to... interrogate him, BLU will have full permission at any time to do that," the soldier complied.
"Fine bah me. Not like we have anything of value since they took our intelligence. 'Ey, we could try to get tha whereabouts of 'em too," the demoman added, remembering the two missing briefcases. They'd been so focused on eliminating this new threat that they'd nearly completely forgotten about retrieving their missing plans.
"Whoa, whoa, hey, whoa!" the scout burst angrily, "We're enemies, we shouldn't be working together, let alone able to get into the others' base safely... when this is done, nothing will change. Just 'cause we're together on this now apparently, that doesn't mean I won't bash your head in later! Got that?"
"Fair enough. I feel the same way, to be honest. I'm just not as rowdy and obnoxious as you to say it like that aloud," the sniper retorted, rolling his eyes at the scout.
"Why you!" He lunged at the sniper, bat at the ready, wanting to go against their truce and bash the Australian's head in right now. Before he could, however, he found himself on the ground, having just had the soldier's shovel rammed into the back of his knee in mid step, causing him to fall flat on his face just short of the sniper.
"Hold your damn horses, son!" he scolded, folding up his shovel and putting it away. There was a time and place for everything, and now was neither the time nor the place for the scout's shenanigans.
The scout scrambled up, using his bat as support as he regained the breath that had been knocked out of him from the fall. Nastily he glared at his attacker, backing down for the time being around the outside of the group.
"Well, we 'ad better git goin', before it's too dark ta see," the half-blind man suggested.
The lot of them agreed, each moving the help carry the medic back to the RED base. While the scout and demoman each took a leg the sniper and soldier took hold of an arm each.
Without another word they began to walk away, the injured medic held steadily between the four of them. Soon they were out of sight, though the spy still didn't allow herself to move. She waited until the sounds of their footsteps had died away altogether before she even thought of venturing out from her hiding place.
Still she was sceptical about the level of safety in the area, but she knew that she couldn't stay there forever. Letting go of all her worry and doubt for just a second she stepped forward.
The cloak stayed on her, though she noticed that the more she walked the faster it drained. A curious look crossed her face. It should have run out long ago, yet it only dissipated once she started to move. Wanting to see if it had been just a fluke, a malfunction, she continued walking until the cloak removed itself from her body, waited for it to recharge, and again activated, shrouding herself in invisibility. For a few moments she waited, until normally the power would run out, and found that she was still hidden. As soon as she so much as took a step forward, however, it began to drain.
"Wow..." she murmured, "Definitely new technology. I can already tell this'll come in handy sooner than later."
Not knowing what else to do the spy crawled under an overhanging piece of the transport ship, lying down. Already she knew what she had to do – rescue the medic – but first she'd have to get some rest. The sky was steadily growing lighter and she didn't want to do a night time assault, as she felt that they'd see it coming soon like that. On top of that she had to assume that things would get violent when she conducted the rescue, and in her current state she wouldn't stand a chance. She had no weapons, so she'd have to rely on stealth as much as possible.
The ground was hard and uncomfortable, but she didn't have the luxury to care. This was all she had at the moment, and though she'd give anything for a soft bed – not even one of the military issue cots, a real bed with a mattress and the works – she'd have to make do with what she had. It took her what seemed like forever, but eventually her mind drifted into a sea of sleep.
************
The spy's eyes flashed open and she awoke with a start. Jolting into a sitting position she felt metal hit her head hard, and she slowly crouched over. For a few moments she'd forgotten where she was, but soon remembered, her nerves calming down somewhat.
Rubbing her head she tried to think up a plan. She had no weapons aside from her cloaking device and the pocket watch she'd found, and she didn't even know what the pocket watch did. It would be a difficult operation to say the least, but she was sure she could do it. She had to save her medic.
"I suppose..." she started, talking to herself to keep her thoughts straight more than anything, "I should head off. Maybe I can snatch myself a medkit to help my wounds heal... god knows I'll have to lurk there for a while since the cloak drains when I move..."
She had a small flicker of doubt in her mind, but nodded a few times, convincing herself that this was the right time to leave. By going now she had nothing to lose; but by waiting to depart she'd only be prolonging the medic's suffering.
Putting on a determined face she started off, crawling from her shelter and surveying the scene. Now that the sun was high in the sky she could clearly see the destruction of the helicopter. Twisted metal littered the rocky landscape and blood stained the dust. She could now spot bodies among the wreckage, some nearly whole and others torn to pieces. Here she would glimpse a leg, there a hand. There was no way to identify them, aside from a select one or two.
Sadly she shook her head. So much damage had been caused just to try to eliminate four harmless people. It was a reckless and careless technique, but there was nothing she could do about it now unless she could somehow find a time machine and change the soldiers' actions. These people, with their unknowing deaths, had saved her and the medic, also leaving the others without a few of their own.
Trying to put all this to the back of her mind she walked from the area, making her way back to what had been the GREEN team's camp. It too had changed drastically, the ground now home to craters which held the corpses of her fallen comrades. She took a moment of silence for them before even thinking of moving on.
There was one last thing to do before heading to the RED base to rescue her medic, and that was checking on the two hidden briefcases. She found them soon enough, blown from their hiding place in the ground by one of the stray rockets. They lay open and broken, their contents scattered this way and that, many of the papers in cinders or missing.
So that was it. Neither RED nor BLU had anything to fight for any longer in this war. They'd blown up their only reason to fight, with neither side winning. But this likely wouldn't be the end. They'd probably find something else, some other plans for a devastating weapon, to fight over once they found out about what they'd done. It was in their blood.
Nevertheless, they still likely didn't realize they'd destroyed their goals. In their minds the medic was still of use to them – how long they'd be under that assumption was the question. Wither way she knew that this couldn't end well.
"Before something really bad..." she started, though she found she was unable to finish the sentence. She cut herself off and said instead, "I've got to get going. No more fruitless searching for what I know isn't there."
Again she walked toward the two fortresses. Until she reached her destination she let nothing else distract her. Faster than she thought she arrived, and after only an hour or two of constant and concentrated walking she stood at the fence that surrounded the battleground.
"Well, this is it..." she muttered, climbing over the fence. Almost instantly her awareness level went up; she was in enemy territory now, and she had to be as careful as humanly possible.
Stealthily as she could she made her way through the base, stopping to cloak every time she heard a noise. Stopping so many times and for so long (for she didn't uncloak and moved the absolute minimum to conserve her cloaking power until she was absolutely positive it was safe) cost her valuable time, but it was the only way to conduct the operation successfully.
Soon she was in the basement, searching for their captive. Just to make sure she was checking every supply room, even the smallest which was very rarely in use. If both the RED and BLU teams would be in on this, there was no way they'd fit in that tiny room.
While she was there she thought to snatch a weapon or two, but quickly found that it wouldn't happen. Just to be on the safe side they'd taken all their spare weapons, locking them up and hiding them.
The only thing she found was an ancient-looking medkit, which he hastily stole and opened. In almost no time the majority of its contents had been applied to her wounds, and she was again good to go.
Shaking her head she closed the door, making her way up to the wider set of stairs. At the top she cloaked, hiding in the rightmost corner of the shed that housed the stairwell. She was in the main part of the fortress now: It would be crawling with enemies no doubt.
Sure enough she had voices, though they were faint. Taking a chance she darted from her hiding place, making her way to the corner of the courtyard walkway. Already her cloak was nearly half-drained from that small advance.
Straining her eyes she glimpsed the inside of the largest supply room as a soldier opened the door to get inside. The REDs and BLUs were apparently congregating, but among them she couldn't see her medic. It made sense, to keep the prisoner separate from their sleeping quarters.
There was only one place left to look. As soon as the door was again closed she slunk through the base. At this point she didn't have time to focus on being stealthy. IF she wanted to make it she'd have to run the rest of the way, compromising her cloak's power supply. And run she did.
Soon she was at the door to the second biggest supply room, where she was sure they were keeping her medic. Already she'd taken so many chances, but she was so close now to her goal. She couldn't stop now, now when she was this close.
With the understanding that either way it would be dangerous she opened the door, jolting in and closing it as fast as she could. Luckily she found that nobody was guarding their prisoner. He was tied up pretty well and could barely move: They must have thought a guard unnecessary as he wasn't going anywhere.
"Medic..." she whispered, making her way toward him. A flood of emotions came rushing to her, but she attempted to suppress them. She still had to rescue him: the celebration would come later. "Medic, I'm here to save you."
"I knew zat you vould come..." One of his eyes opened and upon seeing her a smile flickered across his face. His happiness didn't last for long, though, for he soon heard footsteps approaching. He whispered back to her as best he could, "Mien spy... hid... zey are coming back..."
She nodded nervously and without another word she backed herself into a corner. Once she was in position she stayed perfectly still, and soon a large group of enemies burst through the door.
::End of Chapter 2::
It's Sarurday again, and you know what that means! That's right, it's time for another chapter of TF2 fanfiction, Hidden in Plain Sight! Be excited now! *points a flamethrower in yo face*
Just kidding. But really, it is some TF2 fanfiction here!
Not to worry y'all, things are going to get interesting very quickly. They're not taking any chances and she's found the doctor. I wonder what could happen next...? *evil grin*
The suspense will kill you.
Anyway, I'll upload another chapter next Saturday! Haven't been working on this one as much because I recently entered a contest and have been having a rather busy first week of summer. But don't worry, I plan to keep this one on track no matter what.