Location: Teufort, New Mexico
RED Respawn Room
Date: June 23rd, 1971
There are two types of twins that can be born. There are fraternal twins, which are two genetically dissimilar siblings that happen to have developed and were born simultaneously. Or, there are identical twins, genetic copies born of a fertilized egg dividing into two independent infants. Even so, there are minute differences that often arise in their nurture that can cause identical twins to develop into two easily distinguishable characters. The Mann Brothers are an exception. The only thing different between them is that Redmond likes the color red and Blutarch likes the color blue. They share the same physique, same faces, same ideas, and the same irrational hatred for each other.
The facilities that hosted Operation: 2Fort are a perfect representation of the twins. Though the facilities are superficially different, with RED's rustic wooden architecture and BLU's brick and mortar construction. But if they were stripped down to their bare bones, the two buildings become exactly the same. The rooms, the hallways, the floors, all share the same dimensions and purpose. Every once and a while, their owners reveal their same hatred with a same, equivalent force of mercenaries who, for whatever reason, are also the same. Same nationalities, same faces same skills, same everything. Only the chaotic nature of battle ensured a victor and a loser in every battle. Such symmetry often results in stalemates and contested battles over the same area over and over again. For example, this was well over the 100th instance of Operation: 2Fort, with almost as many victories for the RED team as there were victories for the BLU team. With so many battles over the same battlefield between two lookalike factions over obscure reasons, civilians of Teufort are left wondering what the point of all this fighting was.
The Heavy did not care for any of this, nor did he care that the only difference between this respawn room and the other was the red paint job. The main respawn room was actually two rooms, a larger, longer rectangular room with an ammunition locker to the left and a bench and seat locker to the right. Strewn about were some dumbbells and towels for anyone wishing to exercise their muscles (i.e. Heavy). Overhead, white pipes and white ventilation tunnels could be seen, pumping water and air throughout the building. Further back, separated by a bullet-proof glass sliding double door was the second room where the mercenaries actually respawned. It was much shorter than the previous room, around 1/4 to 1/5 the length, and was the same width. The walls in both rooms had two colors, the top half was white while the bottom half was a brighter shade of the team colors. In this case, a light red. Often, the mercenaries hang around in this room until Operation: 2Fort occurs once again or they respawn to another location to do battle.
Currently, none of the nine mercenaries of RED are in the second room. In here, the Heavy and Medic could see the Scout by the far right corner trying futilely to lift large dumbbells. On the bench the transfer Demoman was meditating in the lotus position, the transfer Soldier next to him trying and failing to get a rise out of him. On a bench to the right of the locker, the Sniper could be seen cleaning his AWPer Hand, a rifle he also affectionately calls the "Heavy Sniper". Heavy didn't understand why, as it was as effective as his previous rifle, but he inferred it was due to the much more impressive bang it makes, like a note out of the songs Sasha makes. Engineer was nowhere to be seen, probably in some workshop fiddling with his machines. The Spy was to the corner to Heavy's left, cigarette in hand and a smug look stuck somewhere in between I-am-better-than-you and I-know-something-you-don't. Pyro was lighting the bulletproof glass on fire…again.
"You know what I could go for right now?" asked Soldier, "A nice, hot piece of American apple pie in a white-only restaurant." He then smiled, hoping that will finally provoke the Demoman.
"88-352," The Demoman cryptically replied, his concentration still unbroken in his meditation.
"What?" the Soldier replied, momentarily confused by the meaning of those numbers.
"Civil Rights act of 1964. Restaurants and the like aren't allowed to discriminate based on country, color, or creed."
Soldier, with his insane idiocy and hatred for all things Demoman, only responded with a growl. "Grr, and what is a Black Scotsman like you doing learning American Law!?"
"I've got half a dozen jobs, mate. Lawyer is one a 'dem. I'm actually surprised that you wouldn't embrace somethin' your country's doin'."
Once again the Soldier only acknowledged the answer with another growl, and decided to give up and leave. Passing by the Heavy, muttering about "Commies, liberals, and niggers," He exited to the right of the spawn room, out towards the building's courtyard. The Heavy decided to ignore him, and moved to gently put Sasha near one of the ammo lockers and then sit down on the bench next to Sniper.
"Bloody hell, mate," the Sniper said, "why did that woman trade our mates with these wankers?! One is taking a piss all over our team, and the other is one I'm itchin' to put a bullet into his skull." Indeed; ever since he has transferred, the Soldier ruined at least five missions with his complete refusal to cooperate with his former enemies, sometimes screaming critical info to the other team before being silenced by either the REDs or BLUs (the latter for the sake of being an enemy). Only recently has he taken to working together, and even then it was a marginal improvement. The former BLU Demoman made no such hassle during his stay with the REDs, but was the nemesis of the RED Sniper. Sniper had the misfortune of ending up in this particular Demoman's way more times than with other BLUs, clashing in duels that end either in a headless corpse or a pile of charred body parts. When the Demoman converted to Buddhism and became sober, the feud quickly flew into the Demoman's favor. What really irked Sniper, however, is the emotional detachment he displayed during those duels. It was infuriating, like his existence didn't matter! Why did he have to work with that man?
"Teamwork," Medic said, coming up to the Heavy and the Sniper.
"What?"
"Zis is only a theory, but I believe zat ze Administrator did zis as a test to see if we wvould operate efficiently as a team, even under ze conditions of losing our own team members und cooperating with ze enemy."
"Yeah, well that is working out fine and dandy, I must say," the Sniper responded sarcastically.
Heavy decided to add his input into the conversation. "Hmph, Heavy does not understand. We are mercs. We kill for money, no more, no less. Respawn makes no one dead for long. It is almost like game. Do you not think so?"
"No!" the sniper yelled, and stormed out of the room to the battlements with his rifle, probably in anticipation of the next match. The Medic only sighed at this, and proceeded to sit next to the Heavy.
"You are dummkopf, you know zat, right?" the Medic asked humorously, "It's not zat simple as thinking of zis as a game. Mein Gott, you are like a child when it comes to zis." That got a chuckle out of the both of them. They sat there quietly, basking in the presence of their brothers in arms. The Scout at that moment dropped the dumbells he was holding, giving up trying to life the heavy weights. Like Soldier and Sniper before him, he left the spawn room. He turned right, towards the courtyard where the Soldier also was.
"Do you hate zem?" the Medic suddenly asked the Heavy.
"Hmm?"
"Ze enemy. Zey cause you pain, zey deny your objective, und taunt you in your failure."
"No," the Heavy answered, "I do not hate enemy?"
"Why?" was the Medic's second question, genuinely curious of what his friend's answer could be.
"When I see enemy, especially other Heavy, I think of family. I have a mother, and three sisters. We were sent to gulag when father fought for White Army. When I think of gulag, I think of suffering mother and sisters had, and the hate guards gave us. When we burnt down gulag, we fled, and were captured. We were not killed, as commissar was amused by our plight. He recruited me into Red Army, and my family was left alone." He looked at the Medic, expecting a response for his participation on the opposing side in WWII.
The Medic just shrugged, "I did not really care. Ze Führer did not represent me."
"Continuing. After war, I became hero in my unit. Commissar did not like that, so he tried to kill me, and I killed him. Again, hatred hurt family, and we were wanted again. I fled, and managed to take family to hidden place in Siberia. It was then I became mercenary, to raise money to help family, and one day go to place where Party won't hurt us anymore. When I see enemy, I think of where money goes. Some may be greedy, like the capitalists Party warns us, or like me, and try to help family. I cannot hate enemy if he fights for family." And with that, he lapsed in to silence.
"Well, you still can't blame ze transfers for not cooperating. Can you imagine fighting me?" the Medic asked. This actually had Heavy pause for a while. During this, he moved his left hand towards a pocket on his vest, a Pocket Medic as a gift from its namesake. But before the Heavy could formulate an answer, air warnings started blaring from the PA system, which suddenly stirred the five remaining mercenaries from his meditation. The Heavy and Medic locked eyes for a second, knowing what that meant.
Emergency mission start.
Moving quickly, they reequipped their weapons and tools for this sudden mission. The Heavy, his Sasha, shotgun, and Gloves of Running Urgently. The Medic, his Medi Gun, Ubersaw, and Syringe Gun. The Demoman, his Loch-n-Load, Stickybomb Launcher, and Eyelander. The Pyro, his Flamethrower, Shot Gun, and Axtinguisher. And the Spy, his Diamondback, Big Earner, Sapper, and Invisi Watch. They then heard the automatic roller shutters open up, signaling that a teammate coming in. Looking, the Heavy saw the Scout and Soldier come to acquire their weapons from the various lockers around the room. The Scout in particular looks very distressed. The Scout, after acquiring his Baby Face's Blaster, pistol, and Sandman, looked towards the bewildered Heavy and Medic, and said, "Hey, y-you guys need to see this." At that moment a massive, mechanical moan vibrated through the entire facility, creating small tremors from the force of the sound.
Now Heavy was worried. Rarely does Scout lose his bravado, and it was never before contact with the enemy. Whatever was happening was something very, very, very bad. The Scout rushed out of the spawn room, the other mercenaries following behind. Heavy could make out the Soldier carrying his Rocket Launcher, shotgun, and Equalizer, at the front of the crowd. Turning left, the REDs all entered the courtyard, the Sniper and Engineer already present. The Sniper had his AWPer Hand, Jarate, and Bushwacka while the Engineer had a shotgun, a pistol, and Jag. Both were on the upper platform gapping at an unseen enemy. The rest of the group followed their line of sight, and proceeded to gape as well. The Soldier then voiced a word that was ringing though everyone's mind, "Incoming!"
Ghastly Gibus.
Dozens of them, hundreds of them, flying though the sky. They were of various sizes, but none were smaller than a car. Great roars could be heard as these strange hats passed by, moving towards unseen targets like UFOs. In any other situation, this might have been humorous, but here, in the backdrop of a grey sky with klaxons and alarms, it was anything but funny to the mercenaries. The Soldier screamed, as one particularly giant hat came and close in on the facility. Everyone was in fear; in fear o of being crushed, killed, or suffering some other horrible fait when it arrived. The Heavy then realized that the Soldier was not the only one to scream at the unknown.
He could hear himself scream.
The Ghastly Gibus enveloped the RED building in its shadow, and there was only darkness.