Chapter 3

The sun was now the afterglow of a kiss on the horizon, fading to a dusty rose orange, with lavender encroaching on the higher edges of the sky. The blare of what sounded like an airhorn nearly jolted Ceely out of her skin. She blinked fast and stood up from the bed, walking over to the mirror and rubbing at her eyes. She looked a sad sight in the small mirror, with red rimmed eyes and her hair tussled from running her hands through it so often. She washed her face and brushed and patted her hair down with her fingers and a bit of water as best as she could, but eventually just settled for tying a red bandana over it all.

A knock sounded at the door, and she straightened her shirt before answering it. To her surprise, it was Medic standing there, with a small white briefcase. "Ahm, hallo Fraulein," he said, smiling awkwardly in an attempt to quell her nervousness. The tall man was stooped slightly as he nodded at her

The Engineer peered around the Medic and offered Ceely a wave. "Howdy, Eit. We were hopin' tuh discuss somethin' with you before dinner."

"Alright, what's going on?"

"Ah know you're a bit uncomfortable with the medical bay, but it's unfortunately imperative that you allow our Medic here to give you a quick physical examination and, uh, certain medications." Ceely felt herself paling, but licked her lips and smiled wanly, struggling to shelve her fear. "And we figgered you'd be less averse to it if you were situated in a familiar place like your room…well, as familiar as a day's difference could make."

She backed up and opened the door wider to let the two men into the room. "Okay, I guess. Thanks for being so considerate of my…problems. I'm working to get over it, and I'll probably be alright with it here in a few days…" The Engineer gave her a warm smile.

"It's understandable. We've all got our personal phobias."

"Fräulein Eit, if you could stand straight up like so, bitte," said the Medic, having unpacked his briefcase next to the small pile of uniforms on Ceely's desk and laid his red rubber gloves down, and pulled out a clipboard and stethoscope. She complied, closing her eyes for a moment until realizing it made her focus on his sterile scent even more. Instead, she followed the precise, impersonal movements of his hands, as he pressed the metal pad to various places on her sternum and back, asking her to breathe deep. "Everything seems in order…Sit, please." She took a seat on her bed, as the Medic used a small lit instrument to inspect her ears and check how well her eyes followed his light.

This isn't so bad, I guess, she found herself thinking. It really was different without depictions of anatomy plastering the walls and rows of mysterious bottles and medical equipment on shelves and countertops, without the scent of medication and the feel of metal and cold paper. The Medic alternately did routine procedures and scribbled on his clipboard with a bored expression as he ticked off checkboxes; Ceely noted he was left handed.

It wasn't until he took the syringe out of the briefcase that she began to worry and looked towards the door. The Engineer had apparently left at some point, and shut the door behind him without her noticing. She felt her heart begin to thud, and swallowed hard as she tried to regulate her breathing. "Um, Medic? Is a shot really necessary?"

He looked away from flicking the syringe. "Yes, of course," he informed her curtly, "this vill help prevent your monthly cycles and hormonal fluctuations, for optimal performance on the battlefield."

Her hands wrung at the bed sheets. "Couldn't they have done this on the train?"

"They were not equipped für Sie, Fräulein. In fact, this is a one-time medication that I have formulated myself," he declared proudly, "and I have been given full authorization to administer it." The Medic held the clear liquid in the syringe up to the light, a slightly maniacal look on his face.

Ceely frowned. "I'm sorry, but I don't really feel comfortable being a guinea pig for your chemicals…"

The man had the nerve to look mildly offended. "I vill have you know that this held up as safe in animal testing, and suited your predecessors just fine. Roll up your sleeve, it vill simply be a prick in the arm." Ceely slowly pulled up the sleeve to her shoulder, and the Medic made an approving noise. "You have excellent musculature, and I have no doubt that you vill recover quickly. The treatment is safe and reversible; I swear this on my medical license."

She sighed once more in concern, and turned away, baring her arm. "Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," she murmured.

"Vhat vas that?" the Medic asked, as he swabbed her arm with alcohol and slipped the protective cover off the tip of the syringe.

She closed her eyes. "Nothing, just a saying. It helps me when I get nerv-Ow!" She gritted her teeth and was thankful the Medic held her arm against its reflex jerk away from the invading syringe. "Every-…every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way…" she whispered quickly, feeling the cold liquid pump into her veins.

After what felt like far too long, the needle withdrew, and the Medic taped a small cotton fluff over her arm with a bandage. She kneaded the tense muscles in her arm for a bit, as the Medic packed up his kit. "So that's it?'

He ticked one more box on his clipboard, then packed it and snapped his gloves back on. "Ja. You may feel ein bisschen discomfort after eating, but the nausea should pass in a few days." With that, he gave her a curt nod and strode out the door, white coat billowing after him.

The Engineer poked his head in her doorway. "Ready fer dinner, Eit?" He was smiling, but without his goggles on, she could see the concern in his eyes, and she plastered on a smile, nodding and walking to meet him outside the door. "There ya go, I knew you had it in ya. Now let's go get us some food before it disappears down Stringbean's gob."

They trailed a fair distance behind Medic on the way to the mess hall. Ceely stuck her hands in the pockets of her jeans in an attempt to look nonchalant. The Engineer was flexing his gloved hand unconsciously, tapping against his leg.

They only had a bit farther to go when the Engineer cleared his throat. "So, Tolstoy, huh?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah." She gave a sad smile, staring at the ground as they walked. "My mom was a fan. Russian literature and all. She hid a few books around our house so they wouldn't accuse us of being communists. I found Anna Karenina under our sink one day, when I was really young. She tried reading it to me all the time, it was her favorite, but I never stuck around for more than the first two pages. I'd heard her read those first two lines so many times…It brings back happy memories." She smiled genuinely; the phrase had gotten her through a lot of tense situations. The automatic doors swished open, and the Engineer gave her a comforting pat on the back as they entered the mess hall.

The blur of conversation stilled as they entered. She spared a quick glance at the main table, catching Scout's sneer and the Sniper's wink before walking quickly towards the line for food. Grabbing silverware and a tray, she turned around and immediately bumped into a wall.

The wall turned around and revealed the largest person she had ever seen. The bald man glared down his beaked nose at her, and she fought to level her voice. "Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you…"

He cocked his head at her and squinted his eyes. "I am Heavy Weapons Guy. Is good to be meeting you." She offered her hand and he shook it between his thumb and forefinger. "And you are new Engineer, da? So tiny, like mouse."

"Um." She wasn't sure how to take this. "Yeah, I'm the new Engineer. You can just call me Eit, though, stands for Engineer In Training."

"Whuohahahahaha!" She flinched a bit as the Russian man roared in laughter, slamming down his tray on the counter and snorting. "Little name for little person! Is good, I like! Eit!" He barked the name, biting down the 't', and turned back towards the dinner line, still chuckling. She gave a shy smile and slid her tray onto the counter as well as the line crawled forwards. Supper looked to be chili and cornbread; she grabbed one of the small remaining pieces and ladled a serving of the soup onto her tray.

The conversation had picked up again by the time she went to look for a seat. Demo was regaling his half of the table with a tale of glory. "-one look at th' sticky between his eyes, and kablooie! Whoo laddies, ya shouldae seen th' BLU, eyes crossed harder'n a trollop's legs at confession!"

Most of the table gave appreciative laughter. "Hey, over here, Eit!" She made her way over, and was chagrined to find that the only available seat was sandwiched between Sniper and a suited man in a balaclava, near the end of the table across from the Engineer. Sitting down and tucking her elbows in, she gave a brief smile and started to eat.

Much to her relief, the Sniper occupied himself with eating as well, though the other man took only small bites of his food, swallowing with disgust. The Engineer passed her a beer, and she chipped off the cap against the table's edge, taking a quick sip for the cool fizz to wash away the spiciness of the chili. She wasn't unaware of the near-silence that once again spread along the table, but she kept eating at a reasonable pace, not quite sure how to break that silence.

Scout pushed back his chair loudly and went for seconds, and the Engineer cleared his throat. Demo took a long swig of his scrumpy and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "So Eit, izzunit? Tell us aboot yeself."

Nine pairs of eyes slanted towards her. "Well," she swallowed and considered her words, "I'm an engineer in training." She took another sip. "And this beer is shit."

The men hooted in laughter. "Ain't that the truth," the Engineer agreed. The man beside her quirked his mouth in amusement and gave up on his meal, lighting a cigarette.

"Bonsoir, mademoiselle. I am zee Spy," he told her, not bothering to look. She held out her hand and he took it disdainfully, raising an eyebrow at her firm handshake and letting go quickly as if she would contaminate him.

The Sniper clapped a hand on her shoulder and she tried vainly to shrug it off. "Don't mind the spook, Eit. He'd prefer to lurk around in the shadows like a cheezed off frog, eh mate?" The Spy merely sniffed and took another drag. "You've met me though, chickie, and we're going to be good chums, roight?"

"Foutlecamp," the Spy hissed, picking Sniper's hand off her shoulder before she could react. He blew a stream of cigarette smoke in the Sniper's face, and stood up abruptly, leaning over the Australian. "Control yourself, you filthy bushman. She ees just a child." With a last glare under a furrowed brow, he swept up his tray and strode into the kitchen to deposit his largely uneaten dinner.

The Sniper gave a scoff and muttered something under his breath, and took a bitter swig of his beer. Eit paused, and then finished eating and went to wash off her tray; when she came back, she sat down in Spy's seat instead, picking up her own beer and sipping at it.

A muffled yell came from the end of the table, and she looked up from studying the wood grain. "That's the Pyro," the Engineer told her. "He's the only member of the team you haven't met yet. He's…quite something, that boy." Eit looked down the table and found the person wearing the gas mask and a red flame retardant suit. He was waving cheerily at her, but as they locked eyes (she supposed), his movement suddenly slowed and stopped, and he dropped his hand and simply stared at her. She felt her smile waning by degrees, and tipped her bottle in his direction before sipping as an excuse to break eye contact.

Scout finished his thirds and strolled out of the mess hall; the rest of the men followed suit eventually, and Eit did the same, tossing her empty bottle into the trash can with a clink. But something wasn't quite right with her stomach.

She stumbled into the bathroom, taking deep breaths and swallowing hard, and barely had time to slam the stall open before the nausea swept her dinner back up.

With a groan and another tortured heave, she sat back on her heels, contemplating the porcelain bowl ruefully. And then much to her shock, the urinal outside her stall flushed loudly and she heard the zipping of a fly.

"Uh, you doin' alright in dere, Eit?"

Shit, I thought I was the only one in here. "Yeah," she coughed up the last bit of bile and spat wetly into the toilet. "Yeah, I'm alright." She took another deep breath and stood up, flushing and making her way to the sinks to wash her face and get some water.

Scout was sudsing up his hands beside her. "What was dat all about, huh?"

She swished some water around in her mouth and spat. "Some medicine Medic gave me. Side effects of nausea for a bit, but nothing serious."

He turned off the tap and wiped his hands on his pants. "Alright. As long as you aren't sick. We don't need ya holding back the team any more than you already will."

Eit silently jabbed her middle finger at the closed door after he left. Always something to prove…

On her way back to her room, the Engineer caught up with her. "Hey, Eit, you've got a call waiting in the war room. Ah'm heading tuh mah workshop, but Ah'd like tuh take you to the shootin' range tomorrow, so you can get some trainin' in 'fore ya head into the real thing on Monday."

"Sure thing. I'll see you tomorrow morning then."

The war room was eerily silent when she entered, but after a moment, the lights flicked on and the gentle whirring of a projector began. She stood awkwardly by the edge of the table as the Administrator's face filled the screen.

"Greetings. This is a prerecorded message. I trust that you have acquainted yourself with your living quarters and colleagues." A cough interrupted her rasping drawl, and she stubbed out her cigarette with a practiced twist before continuing. "These men are the best in the world; they are experienced assassins, while you are a mere girl, and you have much training to cover. Nothing less is expected of you. You must learn quickly, as your life, as well as those of your teammates, is at stake. Our contract will not tolerate failure." The smoke was clearing, and a weary look entered the Administrator's eyes. "I understand your hesitations, but I assure you, the augmentations were for your own safety in this environment. The BLU fighters are ruthless, as you must be as well. RED must achieve victory. Goodnight, and good luck."

The projector gave a few empty whirs and clicked off. After a moment, she left and headed to the rec room, still turning over the Administrator's ominous words in her head.

Demo roared, "Eyy, lass!" as she entered, and a beer was shoved in her hand. She chipped it open against the doorframe and sat down carefully on the couch next to him, allowing the conversation to wash over her. Scout was sprawled across most of the sofa facing the television, scrutinizing the baseball game being broadcasted, occasionally yelling at the grainy players on the screen. On the other side of the room, Heavy, Spy, Soldier, and Pyro were having an animated game of poker, with Pyro's beaming "Hudda!"s resounding as he kept raking in chips, and Soldier's and Heavy's bickering while Spy stole glances at the two men's hands. The room was laced with smoke from Spy's cigarette and Soldier's stogie, and the conversation was underlaid with the clicking chips, the clink of beer bottles, the announcer on the TV.

"Strange…" she whispered, taking another sip of beer.

"Whuzzat?" Demo slurred, blinking out of a stupor.

"Oh, nothing. Just…it's strange, you know? You all seem so normal, I have a hard time remembering that we're all soldiers on a battlefield."

He winked at her. "We're not all soldiers, only that one!" he whispered, pointing at the poker table. "But jokes aside, we dun like tae talk aboot werk mos' days. 'S good tae get it offa yer mind when we have the time on weekends. Ye ken, we're all normal folk, got some damn good skills, but we all hadda life ootside of here, Eit."

She nodded slowly, and before she realized it, her beer bottle was already empty. She swirled around the dregs, confused. "That's weird, I'm usually at least tipsy by this point…"

"Lass, it'll take ya lotta more tae get drunk offa that lot, what with the ways they've fixed us up, those bloody bastards…" he grumbled. "Why do ya think I brew my own Scrumpy, eh? Th' normal stuff's no good tae meh no more…"

He trailed off, expression darkening. Eit frowned, uncomfortable, and stood to leave. "I'll, uh, see you guys around tomorrow, I guess."

The Demo raised a weary hand in acknowledgement, but everybody else only spared her a sidewise glance before returning to their activities. She shrugged and tossed her beer bottle in the trash on her way out.

She walked quickly back to her room, a little bit paranoid about the darkened halls. After brushing her teeth and slipping off her bandana, she stripped down to her tank top and underwear and slipped under the covers. Even in a strange bed, sleep took her easily enough.

The next day began early, and she met the Engineer at the training shed, wearing the red shirt and overalls she had been given. He handed her a toolbelt that was loaded with a wrench, a pistol and a shotgun, as well as some kind of control device. "Here's what you'll be usin' fer the battles."

She belted it around her waist, the weight comfortable on her hips. "So, are you teaching me to, uh, shoot today?"

"Nah, not quite yet. As an Engineer, you've got a more important job than ter shoot people. Come on back." He led her into the training shed and handed her a bright red toolbox from the workbench. She glanced around quickly with an appreciative gaze at the parts and projects that scattered the walls and shelves in the room.

They headed up a set of stairs into what looked like a storeroom. She could hear something rattling in the toolbox, but it was impossibly light, lighter than even an empty toolbox should be.

"Try clippin' it to yer toolbelt. It should lock inta place on yer right leg." She did as he instructed, feeling magnets sewn into the pocket on her upper thigh secure the box. Other than a slight movement restriction, it felt like a simple extra pocket had been attached to the outside of her leg.

"How…?"

"Oh trust me, you ain't seen nothin' yet." He walked her halfway across the empty floor. "Alright, set down the box in fronta ya and take out your construction PDA. That's the bigger one with the dial pad."

"Alright. What am I doing with it?"

"Bring up the main menu, yeah, that big button right there, and press one."

Eit jumped back as the box whirred to life and opened itself. A pair of mechanical legs began popping out, as if out of nowhere, and in front of her eyes, a machine rose from the ground.

"Hit it with your wrench!"

"What?"

"It's just a bit of percussive maintenance, is all. Go on, hit your sentry."

She fumbled for the tool on her belt, and, with hesitation, tapped the machine lightly. It gave a little jolt, as if it was stuck.

"Harder!" She gave it a good whack, and watched it shake out pieces of itself at a faster rate. With a confused look, she experimented with hitting it in different places, but the effect seemed to be the same no matter where she hit. After a while, the sound of contact changed to a resounding "ping" instead of the normal hollow clang, and she stopped.

The machine was a bright red little gun on legs that swept back and forth, making a cute beeping sound. "What in the world just happened?"

"That's a trade secret." The Engineer grinned. "This here's a sentry gun, Level one. As an engineer, your job is tuh protect your base and team by strategically constructin' one of these beauties on the field. If you pick up a bit more metal, I'll show you how tuh upgrade it to shoot faster and better."

He gestured towards a small crate on the sidelines, and she went over to pick it up. This box too was light as air, and attached itself to her belt with a click.

"Actually, scratch that." He handed her the toolbox, which had closed itself after the sentry finished building. "Set this down right about here, take out your PDA again, and press two on the main menu."

"A…dispenser?" she read, as some sort of box began building itself out of her magical toolbox again.

"Durn right. Now go on, give it a good whack, speeds the process up." She hit the box repeatedly, and was surprised to find that by the time she was done, the box of metal she had picked up had completely vanished.

"Wait, how does it do that?"

"Every box has a set amount of metal in it. When it's empty, it'll transport itself back to where it was found, fully recharged. No need for you tuh haul an empty box around with ya."

"Yeah, but the hitting, and the sentry and dispenser just coming out of the box…how is that even possible?"

"It wasn't easy, trust me. Ah had tuh find a good way tuh pack these things fulla transportation technology like the boxes of ammo and metal, and then figger out how tuh make 'em shrink up. They still get a little stuck up in the toolbox, which is why yew gotta give it a good whack tuh make 'em build faster."

"Okay…?" she said, unconvinced. He shrugged.

"The technology here's a bit hard to explain. We just got a shipment of Australium one day, and suddenly everything just kept getting better. But at any rate…" He gestured towards the dispenser that she had built, as it clicked away. "This thing here'll provide you with metal and ammo, as well as healing for you and your teammates."

"You're telling me this box can bring me back to life?"

"Eh, in a matter of speaking. Here, brace yerself." She widened her stance, and before she could ask why, he pulled out a pistol from his toolbelt and shot her twice in the stomach

Eit gave a yelp of surprise and pain. The burn of the bullets stung at her insides, searing in her abdomen. "What the-!" She stumbled backwards, colliding with the dispenser and clinging to it for support. Face twisting in pain, she brought a shaky hand to the entry wounds, with disbelief at the dark blood that stuck to her fingers.

Under her grip, the machine began whirring. A streak of something red was connecting to her through the air, and the pain was already going away. She winced as she felt the bullets drag out of the entry wounds and plink harmlessly to the ground, with her skin knitting up soon after. After about fifteen seconds, she felt good as new, and the machine had stopped whirring. "That…huh. Interesting."

"Sometimes it's just better if Ah show ya how things work, instead of standin' around and tryin' tuh explain." He tipped his hardhat at her with a remorseful smile. "Ah'm not the best with words. But anyways, you've seen how your dispenser can heal ya? It takes a while, but if you give yer machines an upgrade, they'll do their job better and faster."

With the Engineer guiding her, Eit went back and forth between her sentry and dispenser and upgraded them both, jumping back with a disbelieving laugh when she saw the rocket launcher fold up from her level 3 sentry. It beeped merrily as it swept back and forth, looking for nonexistent BLUs.

"So priority on the bat-" She couldn't bring herself to say the word. "So priority when we're fighting is to get one of these up and running?"

"Yup. And make sure your dispenser is built somewhere that yer teammates can get at. Your sentry should go somewhere hard for the enemy to shoot at without also coming into shootin' range, and for the most part, you gotta make sure you stay close, since you never know when a spah's gonna come by with a durn sapper."

"Sapper?"

"Ah'll point it out to ya when you get onto the field tomorrow." He led her back towards a small fort of sandbags. "You've got a detonator there on your belt; it'll allow you to destroy any of your buildings if you need." Suddenly he stopped walking. "Oh! Nearly forgot about yer teleporters! Pull out yer PDA and put down an entrance right here."

The device unfolded out of her toolbox and sat there dumbly on the ground. "How's it work? Do you just …stand on it?"

The Engineer nodded proudly. 'You gotta build an exit though, of course. You got enough metal with ya?"

"Mhm."

"Alright, well, head on back towards those sandbags over there, and put down the exit when you get there."

She walked back, boots clomping with an echo around the warehouse, and opened her toolbox and selected the exit when she stood behind the sandbags. The exit and entrance simultaneously whirred to life, with bright orange sparks. She headed back towards the Engineer to pick up some more metal from her dispense.

As she upgraded her teleporter entrance, he reloaded his pistol. Eit paused for a brief moment and glanced over at him, but he smiled. "Nah, don't worry, Ah'm not gonna shoot you again. Not that it would matter. You'd respawn anyways, and in addition, there's no friendly fire enabled during the actual missions."

She smiled wanly back at him.

"Now, you see how you're upgradin' both the entrance and the exit at the same time? All of your buildings'll need a bit of percussive maintenance as they sustain damage from the BLU team's weapons, so just give 'em a good whack with your wrench. And make sure you always have enough metal with you."

Teleporting was a strange feeling. A moment of unweight, and then Eit was standing twenty feet away on the pads of her teleporter exit. She stepped off, and the Engineer joined her a moment later. "Now, I'm gonna fire up a trainin' protocol, just so you can see what these beauties are capable of." He pressed a button on the central console behind the sandbags, and suddenly a couple of wooden targets sprung up from the floor, painted like BLU mercenaries.

The sentry beeped twice, quickly, and with an efficient spray of bullets, decimated the targets. "Whoo-whee!" the Engineer cheered. "Ain't that somethin'."

"That's really quite incredible." Eit couldn't stop herself from marveling at the efficiency. "It's based on color recognition?"

"That's right. Color and pattern, to some degree. Not a foolproof method, but close enough for science." He sounded proud. "And if you ever need to move one of these, they pack up in a jiffy, and they rebuild wherever you put them down."

He had Eit run through a few more repairs, and had her move the buildings a couple of times to get used to packing up and setting up again. When they took a break for lunch and sat down to eat on the steps of the warehouse, a few rays of hot September sun snuck in between the wooden rafters, catching the dust as it drifted through the air.

"So, you got any hobbies, Eit?" the Engineer asked. "Other than reading, obviously." Eit hesitated, swallowing her bit of sandwich slowly. He gave her a knowing look and a warm smile. "If you don't feel comfortable answering, that's fine too. Ah know the contract says no personal information, but when you're livin' around with the rest of us for this long, you're bound tuh pick up a bit about all of us anyways."

She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. I'm a fan of reading. I go through books the way some people go through food. Never really had time for much else, otherwise. Books, college, and helping my dad in the shop. That's about what life was for me." She took a sip of cola. "What about you? If you don't mind me asking."

"Nah, Ah don't mind. Ah guess it's mostly tinkerin' 'round the shop for me, comin' up with bigger and better guns. I, uh, I do a bit of noodlin' around on mah guitar, sometimes." He chuckled and lifted his hardhat for a moment, running his gloved hand over his bald head. "Do you do anything musical yerself?"

Eit shook her head. "Never really tried my hand at most of it. My mom used to sing, but my voice was never really out for it. I used to do a bit of sketching, nothing serious. Sometimes I write, but mainly I just read." The memory of high notes echoing down the hallway to her room in the early morning, her father's shaky tenor joining in, a harmony that disappeared when the treatments started. She blinked and took another bite of her sandwich.

The Engineer made a small noise of approval and swallowed. "I do quite a bit of writing mahself, though it's limited to notes and sketches in the lab." They laughed quietly. "And I write home to mah family once a month. You get unlimited mail privileges, you know. Just gotta watch what you write, in case it gets censored." He winked at her.

"Does-…" Eit thought carefully. "How's your family getting along?"

The Engineer rubbed his head again with a sad smile. "Well, this job sure pays the bills, so that's no problem. But it's been nearly ten years since I last saw home." He took a long draught of cola. "Mah boy was just learnin' how tuh ride a bike when Ah left…he's close tuh graduatin' from highschool right about now. The missus tells me that he's plenty smart. He'll be an engineer, for sure." He finished up his cola and jammed his hardhat back on. "But shootin' the breeze with wishes ain't gonna do me no good out here. Y'all are mah family right now, at any rate." He grinned at her and stood up, brushing some dust off of his overalls. "How's a little bit of practice with your new guns sound?"

Eit polished off the rest of her sandwich and crushed her empty soda can. "Sounds good. Let's go."