A/N: First of all, I want to give a shoutout to all the reviewers so far who have offer their kind words. Thank you so much Medic,CrazyGirlMe, Inubunnie, RodeoCLOWNgirl, Jacqueline Walker, Jinny the Kisaragi, Hilarious Bread (excellent name!), Smorgesborg, Crimson Banner, Bot09 and carbonitedoubleohneg.
I'm so glad so many are putting this story as an alert as well. Thank you so much 3
As a second thing, Smorgesborg was kind to point out a few things. I spelt Gramophone wrong. Sorry XD. Also, Heavy and Medic speaking Russian. I'm aware its not in the ALPHABET of Russian, it's the phonetic translation so you guys can understand how to word what they're saying. Russian...the alphabet offers no clue how to pronounce so I thought I'd do something different. Probably should've said something last chapter bout that. Heh
ON WITH THE STORY!
The cooling breeze signifying late afternoon flowed gently through the row of five who stood at the start of the bridge.
Heavy, standing extreme left, slotted the last of his bullet belt into the barrel of his mini gun lovingly named Natascha, leaving a sling of the belt hanging on the side. His now empty sash hung limply against his massive torso as he straightened. The Russian hefted his gun upright into a relaxed position and looked down at the rest of his team.
On the other extreme end of the line was Sniper, his rifle jammed against his hip, pointing across towards the dying Sun. The feathers that were tied to the barrel of the gun playfully swung with the gust of wind. Sniper didn't acknowledge the group, instead fixing the back of his hat and shifting his glasses to the top of his nose. His eyes wandered around and took in the eerily silent BLU building.
Beside the Australian was Spy. A cigarette in mouth and his ever-present expression of nonchalant begged the question if he even cared about the current situation. Of course he was required, and paid, to say he wanted the BLUs dead. But now was different. Spy blew a smoke ring and reached into his pocket to stroke his busted "Dead Ringer". At least he felt comforted knowing that his butterfly knife was concealed safely in his hip pocket. His companion to his left fidgeted, drawing his attention downwards. Smoke billowed through his nose in annoyance.
Engineer coughed as the nicotine-laced smog invaded his airways and flew his hand around to clear the area. Feeling eyes on him and lucky his darting eyes were still hidden by heavily tinted goggles, the smooth talking Texan rotated the object his right hand to be hidden from view. He didn't want the sneaky French man to know what he was doing. He never did like the Spy, especially after a short lived conversation on their second day working together. Engineer tapped his shotgun, dubbed the "Frontier Justice"; his own design, as a warning to Spy. His Jag resided in his front bucket, waiting faithfully.
Finally, the bloody frame of Medic nestled uncomfortably between the stout American and the Beast of Russia. No coat tails to billow around made the man seem less dramatic, but his soiled bandages more than made up for that. His hand clutched the Amputator like a lifeline. Despite the dimming light, Medic still had to squint more than his cohorts to see their target. He touched his face, opened his mouth and looked down at Engineer. The goggled man grinned toothily and proffered Medic's now mended glasses from his then-hidden hand. Medic ignored the dry blood on the lenses and placed them back on the brink of his nose. He worded a mute thank-you and took the first step on the bridge.
The rag tag group of mercenaries followed in suit and walked without fear towards the forbidden blue structure. Dusty boots made contact with the cold concrete floor of the base and echoed throughout empty corridors. The RED mercenaries had to admit that the BLUs had better resources in the way buildings go but that was the extent. RED was far superior, no question about it. Engineer took note in the surrounding but his eyes always went back to the tall doctor that walked three paces a head of them. The German kept rubbing his shoulder and was limping heavily but refused to ask for any assistance. Engineer had to admire the man's persistence.
"Oi, guys. Whatcha reckon we split up and meet up'n their top part in a bit." Sniper felt uncomfortable being around the others for so long and needed step away for a while. Even if he'd have to have at least 1 other person, it was much better than a foursome group.
"Oui, Zniper 'as a point. We can cover more ground and I doubt any of us are incapable of 'andling a few BLUez."
Engineer, Medic and Heavy stopped and gazed upon the two other men and contemplated their thoughts. "Nice suggestin', pardner. You two go on ahead ta their lil' lookout upstairs and we'll check tha intel." The men nodded and split to the respective zones they were allocated.
Meanwhile, back down in the sewers, Soldier and Scout wadded through the rapidly flooding tunnels of REDs piping, guns out towards the air in front of them. A tube next to where they usually gathered health and supplies from had a gaping hole spewing forth water from an unknown location. Soldier lowered his rocket launcher that he had fashioned during one of his "tours" and rounded the corner. Scout snuck around him and covered his face with his arm when a burst of sparks exploded from the wall panelling.
"What do you make of this, Private?" Soldier still screamed despite knowing that there was one other person to vocalize to.
"I dunno. Demo probably was killin' someone when that…thing happened. Musta made everything destructible or somethin'. Can we go? This place smells worse than one of ya farts, man." The flighty boy had already made his way into the exiting tunnel and was about to round the corner.
Begrudgingly, Soldier followed. He wanted to stay as far away from the Nazi as possible for as long as possible.
It would be another hour before the men would exit the tunnels, mainly due to the fact that Soldier had apparently spotted a clue in the form of a dead leaf floating on the water. It indicated...nothing. It was just a leaf. This was concluded after a 15minute one-sided interrogation by the helmeted man. Scout made his own deductions. Soldier= batshit insane.
Darkness had fallen over Teufort and not one single BLU fighter was around to feel the nights chilling breeze. Sniper and Spy were only able to search the balcony for the gated entrance to one of the respawners seemed to be wielded shut, from the inside! An intense heat was still absorbed in the metal doorway, burning Snipers hand when he made contact. "Bloody hell! That things hotta than a whore in heat, mate!"
Retrieving his scolded hand, Sniper eyed the already blistering skin and blew. Spy peered at it curiously and smirked. "Better get ze doctuer to give it a kizz for you, Mon ami."
"Why don't you, ya spook." Sniper held his disgusting hand in the Frenchman's face. Spy smacked it away angrily. "Yeah, just 'magine ya hand as the Doc's blade." Spy nodded in amusement and gestured they turn around.
The search in the Intel offered little in what was going on as well. The room looked untouched and the hallways were swept clean with 3 determined sets of eyes. As they honed in on the steel door of the second bunker, Medic's hawk-like eyes noticed a slight heat haze sizzling from the metal. Without skipping a beat, Medic brought the flat part of his blade crashing down on Heavy's giant hand that was reaching out. "Nein!"
Heavy looked indignantly over at his German companion and followed his scrutinizing eyes that had never even left the door. Engineer looked too and saw the vapour rising. From behind his goggles, Engineer traced the outline of the door and crouched when he noticed the still bubbling steel wielding the door shut to the concrete. "Seems like somethin' don't want us takin' a gander inside, fellas."
The foreigners bent down and took in the scene. "Do you sink something exploded?"
"If that's tha case, why not us, too? Didn't take too kind to tha BLUs that's fo' sure."
Medic frowned at the shorter man. It was an excellent point and a question that couldn't be answered whilst looking at a hot door. The trio stood and made their way back up to the base. It was strange not seeing the other team coming after them whilst occupying their space.
When they reach the top of the straight staircase, Medic shivered slightly from the cool breeze, goosebumps prickling up from his exposed frame. As they walked over to the meeting area, an unmistakable American accent could be heard shouting obscenities and orders. "-could've been squids down there, you idiot Australian!"
Engineer smiled when he saw the bushman roll his eye and walk away from Soldier without saying a word. Surprisingly though, was the fact that he was coming towards them and not out to the balcony. "Hey Doc, I burnt me hand on tha bloomin' door ova there. Ya think ya could do anythin' 'bout it?"
Following Medic's gaze as Sniper ignorantly waited for his response, Engineer saw that he was sharing a mutual glare; at least he thought it was mutual considering the massive helmet, with Soldier. Peeling his eyes away, Medic was back in his role as healer and took the Australian's hand, pulled out a tiny bottle of antiseptic ointment and small roll of gauze from without even looking at the wound from his hip bag. He ensued to wrap the injury without word. The German may be many things, but he was an amazing doctor that overshadowed all the names he was given.
"We sleepin' here tonight?" Scout asked impatiently but with a hint of hesitation in his voice.
Usually after a day of getting blown up, torched, backstabbed, head-shotted and shot, the soldiers would go to their quarters at 8 and not wake until 4. And now that Scout had mentioned sleep, the rest of the mercenaries were all reminded of how tired and sore they were. "Considering zeir are no BLUez, I don't sink zere is any problem with that." No one even bothered arguing with the Spy and each took to going to different sections of the base.
Sniper took his place on the outside sniper perch; Spy had followed but took refuge on the opposite side near the radiating door. Spy did not care for being cold. Soldier made his presence known in the room that overlooked the entrance and somehow managed to shout a yawn, however that worked. Scout took to the spiral stairwell entry whilst Engineer made his way to the other stairs.
As he looked back to make sure no one had decided to follow him, Engineer saw Heavy storm out of the base, clomping down the steps loudly and underneath the foyer. In his wake was an equally furious German. Said man marched along the ledge and sat down near the other flight, allowing his legs to dangle over the edge. The Texan stood silent in the doorway of his makeshift room and watched as Medic angrily tore away his bindings and slam them against the ground beside him.
Waiting a couple of minutes until the doctor looked somewhat calmer, Engineer placed a foot out onto the ledge and made his way his friend.
Next chapter will finally have Medic and Engineer living up to the pairing ;) R&R if you'd like :)