In a dark room at the back of the BLU engineer's abode, four sentries stood a permanent vigil. They watched from their corner stations with dead focus on the middle of the room, their aim at what appeared to be a fold out camping grill. The "side burners" on the "grill" stayed at a constant dim glow, unless they were activated. The BLU engineer was in the basement already, so when the burners began to glow brighter and the squat apparatus began to spin, it could only mean one thing. Someone else was coming through.
The sentries canted a little higher to get a read on the traveler as soon as it materialized to determine whether it was friend or foe. They had been preprogrammed to recognize and authorize clearance for only one ID, and he was currently in the basement.
A figure appeared to materialize in the flash of light. It was clad in a reflective suit and face shield and clutched a small switchbox. As the resonant energy faded and the teleporter spun down, the sentries perked up, sounded off their target recognition signal, and the figure flicked a switch as an unseen pulse emanated from the box. Instantly, all devices in the room went dead. In the darkness, the figure reached inside the suit and retrieved a small flashlight. It shoved the face shield back to reveal the RED engineer's face. He clenched the flashlight in his teeth as he worked quietly. The faraday box slung on his back was placed carefully on the ground. He pulled a teleporter out and began to cycle it up as he peeled the antistatic suit off. The second teleporter spun up fast and the light congealed to form the Heavy Weapons Guy for the RED team.
The Heavy lifted his eyebrows as he looked around in amazement. A sawn-off shotgun balanced on his shoulder as if it were a shovel. "Ah, leetle EMP worked, Engineer." He whispered with a smile.
Dell shook his head as he took out spare parts and new circuit boards. "Yeah," he whispered, "but it's a one trick pony, partner. I ain't got a charge for another one and I don't want to run the risk of frying my arm. Shouldn't take but a minute to rewire and upgrade these sunsabitches and then we'll get to see a real fourtha-july."
Dell went about hacking the sentries in no time flat. There was no time to spare. In minutes, he had quietly gutted the fried workings and replaced the old hardware with his own. One by one, the sentries powered up. He took out his PDA and fiddled with the controls. One by one the sentries marched to the door and out into the hall to face what other booby traps awaited them. The first sentry was met with a firestorm from subsequent sentries stationed in the hall. For as much intel as they had accumulataed from BLU, Dell still didn't have the clearance recognition codes of BLU so, even though they appeared to be BLU sentries, their electronic signature was RED and thus set off aggros wherever they went. The first sentry fought bravely but ultimately went down. In a flourish of the new programming, it launched itself into the defensive line and exploded thunderously in a fantastic show of sparks and flame. Thick smoke belched from the charred hole in the wall.
Heavy lifted his brow. "Pyro would have liked . . ." he mumbled in approval as he pulled on his oxygen mask.
Meanwhile, the BLU engineer was startled from his "activities" as the basement shook and the lights flickered. He tore up the stares, stumbling as he jerked his overalls up from around his ankles.
Dell toggled the control switches as two sentries ambled forward. They had flushed out at least four tazer-clip projectiles that had sprung from unsuspecting places in the walls and ceiling. They clanked uselessly against the sentries. Heavy brought up the rear and kept looking back to cover what might be sneaking up from behind.
The house was a weirdly depressing place with the windows boarded up in the back. They reached what must have been the living room. This had windows that were at least blocked by blinds not boards, but the whole was musty and dank and the air had probably been stale before it had been filled with smoke. Dell programmed the sentries to clear that room and then to advance down the hall. As a secondary precaution, he and Heavy upended the tables and tore the flattened sofa pillows off. The sentries proceeded past the basement door to scan the entrance to the kitchen.
The basement door flew open and a disheveled BLU engineer burst into the hall. His face was contorted in a rage as he spotted Dell and Heavy tearing up his living room. He quickly dug a hand into his overall's pocket to find his pistol. Before he could take aim, he recognized a noise just behind him. The sentries had returned from the kitchen and found a target. A volley of shot rang out and riddled the BLU engineer. He fell a bloodied and mangled mess.
Heavy and Dell approached the body and Dell kicked it over with his foot. His midsection was sopping wet with blood but there was a stench of vomit about him. Dell looked at his mouth. Blood was streaming from his lips but no vomit. Odd. Dell thought.
From somewhere in the house came the sounds of a machine cycling on and Heavy and Dell watched as the corpse became awash in the familiar effects of respawn.
"Aw, shit." said Dell. "He'll regenerate somewhere in this house. Heavy, you try and track that asshole down. I'm gonna go find Jane."
"Da." He loaded two shells into his shotgun. "Iz my pleasure."
As Heavy trundled off to flush out the respawned BLU, Dell dialed in instructions to the remaining sentries to follow Heavy and provide him with cover. Then, he dropped the PDA into his overall's pocket and cautiously approached the entrance to the basement stairs.