Forewarning- This chapter contains some graphic violence and a couple of F-bombs. This chapter was also originally posted as two chapters so it's a bit lengthy.

I don't own Team Fortress. Clearly.


Scout's day ended with a titanium bat becoming very familiar with the back of his head. Quite intimately apparently since it didn't seem to have the heart to kill him even after caving in his skull, instead it left him writhing in pain on the floor. He could've sworn he was bleeding but when he touched the back of his head he only felt the impression the bat left in his skull.

"Heh heh, sorry about that, man," his rival chuckled with a hint of discomfort in his voice, "Hold still, I'll get it this time."

"How'd you fuck it up the first time, ya fuck!" Scout practically cried, but he moved his hands so that his rival would mercifully finish him off. His rival was beginning to laugh hysterically before Scout felt the back of his skull collapse onto his brain.

He found himself surrounded by the white walls of the living corridors infirmary completely out of breath and his heart pounding against his chest. He was greeted by the engineer who was wiping his brow and sighing in relief that the day was finally over.

"Rough day, huh?" He smiled at Scout once he took notice of his demeanor.

"You doan know the half of it," he said with a breathless laugh. He'd been too distracted by the fact that there was a hobo chick waiting for him in a crate that he'd gotten his ass kicked more than usual.

He followed the engineer out of the room and both their stomachs growled in hunger. Engie chuckled, "I think it's Pyro and I's night to cook. We should have something whipped up in about thirty minutes. An hour at most."

"Alright," Scout replied distractedly, even though the mention of food, especially when made by Engie and Pyro since they were typically the only ones who actually tried to make something good, made him glad. Scout's eyes followed the stocky man to the kitchen door until he disappeared behind it.

He sighed and went to go wander around outside. It was too late to try and get Laura or Lori or whatever her name was off the property but he knew he couldn't leave a girl in a wooden crate all night. They were also fighting tomorrow so she couldn't stay on the battlements either. He needed to think of a safer place she could hide for the night.

He wandered around the outside the living corridors trying to think of such a place, though made sure to stay close by since he didn't really want to miss out on dinner. He kicked stones around as he tried to make sense of the situation.

Why didn't he shoot her? He pondered this because he knew he was so bent on shooting her but then it turned out she had... Boobs. One of his greatest weaknesses. Girls generally were. Pretty or ugly, he never liked the idea of hurting one, let alone killing one. And it seems he wasn't capable of it either.

With another sigh, he kicked another rock down the side of the hill, and then he noticed a deer path that was barely visible due to fading from lack of use. His eyes traced the path which seemed to go a long distance until completely disappeared behind some large rock formations. Then it stuck him in his mind, he remembered one place that he'd discovered while exploring the property during a cease fire. It was a shed that may have been used for maintenance but it seemed to be rarely used probably on account of it being so far away. It'd definitely be a step up from a wooden crate and it was a good distance away from the battlements and the living corridors. It'd be perfect for a night.

Hopefully for just one night.

Before he could do or think anything else he heard Engie ring the dinner bell. Scout immediately ran toward the living corridors, feeling a little anxious to be amongst his comrades while having such a dangerous secret.

The mess hall was filled with the heavenly smell of food. Scout's stomach growled at the promise of food and he made a beeline for the dinner line which only consisted of Soldier of Demoman. They must've been getting a head start on getting drunk in the mess hall while everyone was somewhere else doing their own thing, well, at least, Soldier was getting started on getting drunk, Demo always was. Demo gave him the usual drunken greeting and Soldier begun raving about the day's defeat.

"What happened today was completely unacceptable!" Soldier started yelling.

"Yeah, yeah," Scout says quickly, he didn't feel up to dealing with Soldier's usual ridicule, 'We'll do better tomorrow."

"You better hope so, maggot, because another defeat like that is going to earn this entire team a retraining session!"

Scout grunted in response. Soldier always made sure everyone was on top of their game, which wasn't a bad thing, but it did get a bit excessive with the usual workouts. A retraining session on top of that would definitely suck.

He merely rolled his eyes at the crazed patriot and grabbed a plate and silverware that Pyro had just put out. Other teammates were beginning to slowly stream into the mess hall as Engie was beginning to place food out.

"Are you in a hurry, Scout?" Engie said with a curious look, and Scout noticed that he'd been moving his legs like he'd been trying to run in place.

"Uh-eh, just can't wait to eat!" Scout laughed. He's heart was racing in his chest. Engie pulled the cover of off the food to reveal a mixture of noodles and meat all coated in delicious looking cheese.

"Well dig right in then!"

After Demo and Solider got their fill, Scout quickly piled up a mountain of cheesy goodness onto his plate and then went to go sit on the other side of the mess hall. Most of his teammates raised an eyebrow at him as they got their meals since it was an odd occurrence for Scout to not trying to be the center of attention. Scout really didn't want to socialize, he just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. He scarfed down a spoonful of the stuff, the deliciousness skid over his taste buds and then quickly burned down his throat.

Scout felt an overwhelming sense of dread when the tall, slender man entered the mess hall. He shot a glance at the boy as he headed over to get his food. Scout swallowed another bite nervously. He knew he was screwed. There was really no way of keeping secrets from Spy. It was part of his job to get information out of people and he knew when people were hiding things.

And Scout wasn't exactly being the most inconspicuous person either.

He continued to scarf down food and from the upper corner of his eye, he watched Spy grab a plate and leisurely load it with food while taking a couple more curious glances at him. Once Spy had gotten what he needed he turned away from the kitchen and stood there for a moment, looking at Scout and contemplating. Scout felt his entire body tense up as he felt Spy's eyes peering into him. He tried his best to relax and to act naturally in hopes that the lanky man would pass over him. And just to be safe he filled his head with happy, dumb thoughts because Scout was sure Spy could read minds, and he hoped not to give him anything that he'd find interesting.

Hot chicks, hot chicks, hot chicks, hot chicks, hot chicks... Except Spy still stood there, seemingly unswayed by the thoughts that Scout was trying to broadcast. Miss Pauling in a bikini...

Spy had suddenly lost interest in the boy's behavior and finally started moving toward the mess hall doors. He sometimes preferred to eat alone in his room, especially after a defeat.

It worked!

Scout breathed a happy sigh of relief. He helped himself to a couple more bites of his dinner before he looked down at his plate and realized that he had already forked down more than half of the food.

Spy was not fully out the mess hall doors when Scout allowed his thoughts to return back to his predicament.

I bet the poor kid's starvin', he thought as it occurred to him that he had left some chick in a crate for maybe eight hours. Well, assuming that she hadn't lost patience and took her risks and left. He actually somewhat hoped that was the case.

"How are you doing, Scout?" Hearing the Frenchman's voice made Scout jump in his seat, and almost threw his fork across the room. Spy had apparently refound interest in Scout's behavior.

Aw, crap...

Scout swallowed hard and then tried to clear his throat. "Ah-Good, good- I'm good." Scout forced a smile to his curious teammate.

Spy smiled back. He twirled his pack around on his plate for a moment. "Well zat's good to 'ear," he said in a forcibly cheerful tone, "but what are you doing over 'ere all alone?" Spy took a small bit of food while giving Scout a questioning look.

"Oh well, you know," Spy's expression became rather irritated because clearly he did not know. Scout had to refrain from punching himself in the face because even he knew how idiotic and suspicious that response was. "I just needa a little a- uh- time to myself... Yeah."

That response was not any better.

"Really?" Spy replied in mocking surprise.

"Huh, yeah... Yeah." The Frenchman was not convinced. He placed his plate on the space in front of Scout and pulled out a chair.

Oh shit... Just as Spy was sitting down, Scout quickly shot up from his seat. He was not going to be able to take Spy interrogating him, especially with the rest of the team nearby to witness.

"Well, I'm full- And I'd love tah stick around and chit-chat with ya Spy, but I uh- I needa call my ma, it's been a while and she gets really worried about those sorta things, ya know?" That was actually true. He hadn't called his mother in a while and he really did need to try to make time to do that later.

"Uh-oh, okay?"

Scout quickly picked up his plate and begun shuffling toward the door. He felt a rush of guilt and embarrassment wash over him as he felt every eye follow him out of the room.


After promptly making sure no one had followed him upstairs and that the door to his bedroom was surely locked, Scout quickly searched through his garbage to an old Chinese take-out box and shoveled whatever left over from dinner into it.

He shoved the box into his bag along with the fork he had hastily cleaned by wiping it off with his shirt. He flipped on the lights to make the room seem like it was occupied and then turned on the radio making sure it was loud enough to be heard from outside but quiet enough to not have any of his teammates banging on his door.

Scout threw open the window and then slipped outside.

Scout jogged the half mile to the battlements and just to save time, he jumped down the steep sides that created the battlements dirt walls. He landed with a stinging pain shooting up from his feet to his knees, but he quickly walked it out because it wasn't anything he wasn't used to from jumping from much larger heights.

He made his way down the familiar corridor and slowed his pace as he walked up the stairs. He slowed even more as he walked toward the room with the crate. He still somewhat hoped that she wasn't there, that she had left because this was not a situation he wanted to be dealing with, but at the same time, he kind of looked forward to having someone new to talk to. His team was great and all but they already knew how great was, he needed to share his wonderful personality with someone else so they could know how great he was too.

Scout walked very hesitantly into the room. It was silent except for a couple of birds chirping somewhere in the distance. He took a deep breath and he pried open the crate. As he lifted the lid, he felt both disappointment and relief to see the kid sitting up frozen in the corner of the box. He noticed that her body relaxed slightly as she realized in was him.

"Hi there," Scout tried to say nonchalantly to put a little ease the tension.

"Hi," she replied while forcing an uncomfortable smile. She coughed once before she grabbed a handful or her unraveled sleeping bag and tossed it over the side of the crate and then did the same to her backpack. In another moment, she swung her legs over the side and hopped to the ground.

"Uh sorry, for uh, takin' so long," Scout said while rubbing the back of his neck while she stretched her legs and rubbed her eyes.

"It's all right," she coughed again while she began wrapping up her sleeping bag, but this one sounding particularly nasty and wet, "though I was starting to think that you weren't coming back." She secured the sleeping bag into a tight little bundle and hooked it up to her backpack. "I was considering taking my chances since it got quiet for a while."

"Oh really," maybe he shouldn't have come back. Oh well...

With a grunt, she hoisted the baggage onto her shoulders and then looked at Scout almost expectingly. "So um, now what?"

Scout blinked at her as if he was somewhat dazed for a moment.

"Oh I-um- I know a place you could-uh- stay for the night," he started as he begun to snap out of it. "If you're interhested, I mean."

The kid coughed as she thought it over. "Hmm well..." she seemed to be preparing to decline his offer until she noticed how low the sun was. "Oh, I guess I should stay the night... Thank you."

"Alright," Scout nodded and then started for the door, "Follow me toots."


"So where ya from?" Scout asked in attempts to start a conversation. He hated awkward silences and they had fallen into one shortly after he called her toots followed by an intelligible grumble from under her breath.

The girl gave a little chuckle, "Well, I don't suppose you've heard of a little town called Mesquite?"

Scout felt the corners of his mouth perk upward into a bewildered smile. He honestly had no idea what she just said. "Uh, nah, I can't say I have." They reached the foot of the dirt wall and Scout decided that it'd just be better to just climb up it rather than trying to navigate through one of the mines they rarely used. He laced his fingers and crouched with his back facing the wall, "Here, I'll give ya a boost."

She looked at him a little questioningly for a moment and then her eyes flickered to the top of the dirt walls. "Oh, okay." She back took a couple steps back then walked quickly toward him to gain some momentum, and once her foot made contact with hands Scout swiftly hoisted her upward until she could swing her legs over the top. She was a little lighter than he had expected. It then stood out to him that her clothes probably made her look a lot fuller than she actually was.

"Thanks," She said while dusting herself off. She smiled and reached her hand out to him. Scout glanced at it a bit hesitantly, somewhere in the back of his mind considered whether or not she'd be strong enough to actually pull him up, but he grabbed her hand anyway.

"I'm not surprised you've never heard of Mesquite," she started as she struggled to pull him up, "It's not exactly a town, well not yet at least.* It's also in Nevada."

Scout climbed over the top of the dirt wall and he gave her a quick thanks. She had a bit of a coughing fit but she managed to choke out a "you're welcome."

"So Nevada, huh?" Scout said somewhat surprised while also pronouncing the Holy Land's name as "Nev-AW-da," unknowingly committing one of the biggest sins that one can commit in the presences of a Nevadan. Though he was fortunate that this one was of a forgiving nature and merely smiled while she worked through her coughing fit though she was determined to correct him and save his misguided soul.

"It's pronounced Ne-AH-da, actually," she said kindly though Scout didn't quite catch on.

"Yeah, that's whatta said, Ne-AW-da!" He replied in a slight laugh. The girl bit down on her lip, still smiling, but shaking her head slightly as she came to the conclusion that it may be pointless to try and redeem him. Her point of origin did strike Scout as a little curious though and begun to press a little further. "So, uh, you know you're in New Mexico, right?" He chuckled to himself, thinking he made a funny.

"Heh, yeah, I just kind of ended up here. I'm a bit of a wanderer, you know, just kind of go where ever life takes me," she said almost whimsically that Scout couldn't help but cringe at just how cheesy that statement sounded.

"You're notta hippie, are ya?" Scout asked somewhat scornfully. He'd only met a handful of hippies in his time, but the never did strike a positive chord with considering he wasn't much of a 'lover of peace' nor did they take too kindly to the dog tags that he wore around his neck. Man, he'd really hate himself if he was putting his ass on the line for some brain dead hippie.

She laughed heartily at his question, "Oh God, no! Hippies usually travel in packs anyway. I'm here by and for myself."

"Heh, what's yo name again?"

An embarrassed smile spread across the girl's face and gaining some color in her cheeks as if she'd been caught in a lie. She spoke timidly, "Lyra."

"Sounds like a hippy name to me," Scout snidely remarked with a smirk. The girl's embarrassed smile grew a little wider but she said nothing in response. "Ah, com'on! I'm only joking here, toots! Besides, I don't really care." Scout did decide that maybe he really didn't as long as she didn't try to force that hippy crap on him-

"So where are you from?" She asked suddenly as if to bring them away from the subject, "Boston?"

"Why yes!" he laughed, "Did my awesomely amazing accent give it away? Ladies love the accent, I'm sure ya know. I'm not allowed tah go in town anymore. Ya see, I got all the looks that make all the gihls feel all light-headed and everything. The minute I staht talkin' though- BAM! All the ladies are knocked into a coma. Foh a week. It's quite sad actually. I'm suhprised you're still walkin' after havin' been talkin' with me for this long!"

Lyra laughed hard enough to trigger another coughing fit. "Ha, I know! I feel as if I'm gonna faint at any moment!" She coughed a little harder and her nose wrinkled up a bit as she tried to hide a wince behind a smile, "Though that may just be the exhaustion.

"Heh heh, very funny, but I know you dig it..." he chuckled, finding himself a little surprised but glad to find that this hobo hippy kid had a sense of humor. The comment about exhaustion did provoke a couple of questions he wanted to ask. "So... uh, how long have ya been out here anyway?"

"Hmm," she took a moment to muse over the answer, "I believe I've been out here for out here in the badlands for about... A little less than a month probably. I did intend to stay until the beginning of spring but- uh-" she awkwardly readjusted her gear on her shoulders, "I kind of was rushed into this... I didn't take into account a few things, didn't prepare as well as I should've, and well a lot of things just went bad."

"Oh," Scout said, "Does any family or whatevah know you're out here?"

"Nope."

Her response was so nonchalant and unhesitating that it struck Scout by surprise. He shot her a quizzical look and she merely shrugged her shoulders and begun to explain: "My pop and I were never exactly on the best terms. We did a lot of fighting back home. Heck, it was a fight that's the reason I had to leave home."

"He kicked you out, huh?"

She remained in a thoughtful silence for a short while until she nodded her head, smiling, "Yeah, I guess you can say that."

"Man, that sucks."

"Not really. I was more than happy to leave home," she said, "There wasn't really anything left for me there, you know? I was probably going to end up leaving the place anyway."

She said it all in the most sincerest way possible, but Scout couldn't help but pick up on some regret that seemed to hide behind her words. He merely shrugged at it, though. "If you say so."

She kicked at a rock as walked down the dirt path. The sun was almost gone and it was getting a bit too frigid for her liking. "Where are we headed anyway? Are we close?"

Scout looked around until he caught sight of the lights of the REDs living corridors far off on the horizon and the rock formation was steadily approaching. "It ain't too far."

The time then and to when they reached the shed, scout decided he got enough information about the hobo to satisfy his curiosity and begun to talk about whatever that came to mind. "Jeebus, it's getting' really freakin' cold!"

"Heh heh, yeah," the girl sighed, "I actually came here to get away from the cold."

Scout laughed. He'd spent a fair amount of winters in the badlands so he was well aware that it could easily dip past the freezing point. What made it funnier to him was that winter hadn't fully rolled around quite yet, so it was only going to get much worse. "And how'd that work out for ya?"

"Terribly," she laughed, "A place that's supposedly a billion degrees in the summer should be somewhat tolerable in the winter, right?"

"Well, they don't call it the 'Badlands' for nothin', kid!" Scout chuckled, "Though it's not as bad as Boston in winter..." He then went on a long tangent about the roughness of Boston and how cold it could get. He went on about the thick layers that'd cover the streets and made it practically impossible to go anywhere, and how by spring stray cats and dogs, rodents, and even hobos would still be found frozen to death and sticking to the pavement. Lyra didn't really say much in response to his rambling, she merely nodded her head occasionally said things such as "oh wow" to show she was still listening as she was observing the landscape around her.

They carried on like this for about five minutes as they wounded down faded deer paths and around large rocks. Eventually a worn shack cam into view.

"Is that it?" Lyra asked, having a hint of hopefulness in her voice.

"Uh, yeah," Scout took greater strides to pull ahead as the walked toward the shed. The shed was kind of nice considerably nice despite it being rather worn down through some tough years in the badlands. It was a good size, it could easily fit a couple of people, and there were some small windows that partially lined the top of it. Scout felt rather proud of himself for thinking of such a good hiding spot.

If only it wasn't locked.

Scout's heart fell to see a shiny lock placed securely on the door. He fiddled around with it at first as if hoping that it'd break off or it'd unlock but it was a pointless effort.

"Aw screw it," Scout reached into his bag and pulled out his pistol. He didn't take notice that the girl's body seized up upon seeing the gun and had taken a couple of steps back. He tugged on the lock a couple more times, and then he fiddled around with it until he found a good position to shoot it without loosing a finger.

He had some hesitation though before shooting it. Somewhere in his mind he considered the shininess of the lock and questioned how recently it'd been placed here. He thought about the maintenance men and wondered if they might wind up stumbling across a hobo sleeping in their shed, but he reasoned with himself that they rarely come up here at least with the teams fighting since they might end up getting accidently killed. He also imagined Miss Pauling chopping up bodies in this shed. There were a few twists in his stomach at that thought.

BANG!

He shot the lock anyway. The kid made a startled yelp. Scout opened the door and felt a wave of relief wash over him as he saw that the shed looked relatively normal on the inside. When Scout looked back at Lyra, he saw that she'd seemed to have drained of some color and recoiled into a defensive position. She seemed to be frozen in place. She nervously glanced at the pistol in his hand, which he quickly hid behind his back upon realizing that's what spooked her, and held out his arm toward the doorway while offering up an awkward smile as if saying either "Tadaa!" or "After you."

She remained still for a moment, but gradually her body relaxed with her shoulders slowly drooping down and her expression showing a little more composer. She eventually took a step toward the door.

"Thank you," she managed to say, sounding just as timid but sincerely grateful as she did that morning.

He nodded to her as she entered, but Scout did not reply with a "you're welcome." He also almost lost himself for a moment. He felt something tugging- a tugging on his chest. He felt as if something was drawing himself back to the living corridors. He wasn't sure why either. There was just something there. Pushing him to run back, just to check on things. But he couldn't do it. Instead, he stepped inside the shed and closed the door while shaking his head. Convincing himself that it was nothing.


Footnote- *According to the internet, Mesquite NV was incorporated as a city in the mid-80's, so around when Team Fortress 2 was set the population was considerably small. If I'm wrong, I apologize to anyone who lives in Mesquite NV. (Disclaimer: I never lived in Nevada)

Author's note: Yay! You made it to the end! Thanks for toughening it out, I originally posted this as two separate chapters but I wanted to keep the "Introduction" part of the story in as few chapters as possible so I thought since both chapters still kind of stuck in one scene I'd just combine them. I hope it was interesting enough to read through but if a majority of people think it's too long I'll cut it back to how it was originally.

Reviews are much appreciated!

Thank you guys so much for reading! I really hope you enjoyed it.