Chapter 7: A statement
Who are you?
Do I know you?
Sniper's head weighed heavily as his thoughts ran together.
"I-...I-" He began to shake. But his hand was still held by his teammate.
"I can't remember anyone...I don't know." He looked up at Spy.
The Frenchman gave him time to think. But Sniper could only shake his head.
"On our patrol last night. We checked your room as well. Do you remember that?" Spy finally asked.
Sniper nodded slightly.
"Then you also remember that there were no photographs back then. He placed them some time the next morning."
The Australian nodded again, asking himself why Spy pointed that out. The crouching man laid his other hand around Sniper's.
"As you were away, I had a close look at them." He paused. "A lot of them were made on our battlefield. Some were made in our base. But some others were...very old."
Sniper's breath began to tremble.
"Photographs of you, before you joined our team. When you were younger." Spy looked at him with concern. "Do you really have no idea?"
Sniper closed his eyes. He didn't want to think anything right now and Spy let out a heavy sigh as he noticed that the Australian wouldn't answer and squeezed his hand again. But Sniper tried to overcome his dread.
"His eyes."
Spy looked up again. "His eyes..?" He repeated.
"I don't know what it was back then. But now that I think of it, they were familiar. Really deep green coloured, distinctive eyes. I recognized them. I've seen those eyes before." Sniper's voice was thin.
"Okay." Spy just nodded slowly, leaving him the option to say more.
But Sniper would just shake his head again. "But I can't remember anyone with such eyes either. I have no idea." He hid his face in his remaining hand.
"It's okay." The masked man rubbed his thumb over Sniper's hand. "He may had been just a passing acquaintance. From an old job. Maybe you only ever met him once."
"But...why would he do this. What did do I do? What does this have to do with you guys?"
Spy promptly held his teammate at his shoulders as Sniper began to panic again.
"Some people are truly insane-, lunatics. It has nothing to do with you. It's not your fault that he is after us." Spy moved his hands to cup Sniper's frightened face. "He favours you for some reason. And he seems to want nobody else to do so."
"What-," The Marksman furrowed his brows. "What do you mean by that?"
"You had a relationship with René, based on mutual respect. I don't mean that you two were friends, of course not, but you both valued each other's professionalism. René respected and valued you. But your-" Spy stopped for a short moment before he carefully pronounced the next word. " -Your stalker, he did not want him to. And in his crazed mind, it was a logical step to kill him for that."
Sniper's eyes were somewhere focused below Spy's and he was barely breathing.
"Doc..?"
"Our Medic listened to your concerns. He took his time and tried to help you."
"...You?" Their eyes met at a close distance.
"Me." Spy just said. "I-.."
He started, but paused to sigh as he would decide not to answer. But he continued with a very soft voice.
"I always tried to treat your need for freedom with respect. I value our relationship very much. I would even go so far to call you a close friend by now."
This awkward answer could bring a smile onto Sniper's face, could even bring him to chuckle. "You are a bloody mess, Spook."
"It is true! You are the only one I dare to show that I actually have a heart!" Spy tried to joke and received a soft, playful headbutt from his companion. The sudden change of mood caused them both to chuckle.
Sniper had needed that right now. Closing his eyes again and he enjoyed the moment, as it distracted him from all of their problems.
"Scout." He suddenly said with confusion. Spy raised his brows. "Scout and I barely interacted with each other. We even rarely got to fight close up. That one time...,- that was the first time we actually had a real conversation."
Sniper fell back into his chair. "There is no reason for him to kill the BLU Scout, is it?"
He noticed how Spy started to brood over this fact.
"Exaggerated envy." Spy brought out with a shrug. "I can't think of anything else."
"He was jealous that Scout talked to me? Hell, I talk to a bunch of people each day!"
"No, not jealous. Envious. He had no contact with you, but even an enemy was 'allowed' to talk to you. I think it's some kind of envy." That was maybe far fetched, even Spy frowned as he wasn't satisfied with his own answer. "René was the only BLU, or more specifically, enemy, who you talked with before, non?"
Sniper thought about that for a moment and then nodded. The BLU Spy was the only one who always had to come in close combat and so they naturally spoke to each other very often. Thinking of him, Sniper's mind was brought back to remember the packageand frowned. The little happy moment had passed and it all came back to him, drowned him, pulled him deep down into his terrified mind. Spy got up, stretching his poor back and let out a rather relieved sigh, not noticing that Sniper had another mood swing.
"If you are ready for it, I would say you should have a look at the photographs. The old ones. Maybe you can recognize the location and the time they were made. Maybe it will give you an idea about the person who made them." Spy massaged his temples with a moan. "But maybe we should all get some rest first. These last days have been stressful."
He paused to look at his teammate. Sniper's face seemed to be frozen in some kind emotionless expression, focusing nothing than thin air. Spy decided to watch him for a moment, before he had to accept the fact that Sniper wasn't just in his thoughts. Crackles and flickering light filled the room as it stayed silent for a while, but from further away one could hear the muffled arguments of their team.
"You can go back to your van, if you want to. Get some rest. I will take-, the box. You don't need to have it there." Spy tried to reach him. "Is that okay for you, Lawrence?"
A loud knocking interrupted the rooms peace.
"We demand the Traitor!" It was their Soldier. And he didn't seem happy.
"Soldier, what's with this utter nonsense?" This disturbance could ruin the progress he made with the anxious Sniper and Spy began to snap at the American. "This is a private conversation, you- simpleton!"
"Hand him over or I have to come in and force you to do it, Frenchie!"
His manic knocking, or rather punching, send waves of constant beats through the room. Each one closer to Snipers absent mind. One bang after another, vibrated through his body, echoed in his head, breaking him down.
"Open up or this American boot will do the job! Don't hide, you cowards!"
"Shut up. SHUT THE BLOODY HELL UP!" Sniper jumped and charged towards the door. Spy tried to jump right after him, but missed to grab him in time. And so the Australian slammed the door open.
"Ya want me? Getta piece of me!" He yelled and threw the first punch, hitting Soldier right on the nose.
Spy tried to keep them off from each other, but received an hard elbow strike into the chest. Their Engineer and Scout already ran towards the brawl, pulling on Soldier and pushing Sniper away. Medic also arrived, but viewed the situation with a rather emotionless calm.
"What is going on here?!" With a last attempt to save the situation, Spy grabbed Sniper under his arms and barely lifted him away. At least the fight was ended, but both mad men stared at each other with tension, panting, ready to start again.
"We aren't really sure what to think about the trophy box." Medic finally said, his face unmoved.
Spy however, felt his face burning. "You-, I ordered you to wait!"
"What, we weren't suppose to see that, huh? You knew this all along and didn't said a thing, ya fancy snake!" Scout yelled back at him.
Medic shoved the young man aside. "You aren't in the position to make orders, just suggestions. And I wanted to see what you were looking at."
"Get him over here!" Soldier darted to grab the Sniper again.
Spy jumped in between, defending his teammate from the mob. "It seems that you haven't understand the situation completely." His voice was weirdly calm but determined.
"Why don't you all calm down before one of you gets hurt." Engineer passed them and joined Spy's an Sniper's side. "Spy had surely his reasons to hide it for now. And as I told you before-" The last words were spoken out sharp. "-It is very unlikely that Sniper is responsible for the murders."
"Oh, and why does only he can see the killer. Even talk with him? He always got the information about what's going on here! He is friggin playing foul with us!"
"And why do we have recordings of a second person then? He can't be at two places at the same time!" The rare anger of the Engineer frightened the young mercenary. Spy looked back and forth, opened his mouth, but couldn't speak in shock and disbelief.
"Well, our well-leading Spion is always on point. He wasn't present at any time the BLU was spotted by Sniper. And his poisoned tea,-" Medic let out a snort. "He was never in danger. Respawn was on the whole time."
"You-" Spy started with widened eyes. "You think we both did this? You think -I- would betray my own team?!"
Sniper scowled and turned to go back into the smoking room, but Spy got a grip on him, still facing the other three. "Are you out of your mind?!"
"There is no evidence for that! In fact they have alibis." Engineer stepped in again. "Let's all calm down first, will ya? This darn fighting leads to nothing!"
No one decided to answer to that, but at least it stayed quiet. However, one side gave evil, suspicious stares to the others. Sniper tried to free himself and Spy let him go, let him run back into the smoking room.
As the door slammed shut, Spy changed his facial expression, causing fear from the others.
"Do you know, what you just did?" His voice was low and threatening.
Engineer turned to look at his teammate with concern.
"He is the- Main. Victim."
Scout gulped.
"And you decided to abandon him. Instead of listening, you decided in your -stupid prejudice- to turn on him."
With a quick sharp movement, Spy pointed back at his smoking room.
"Do you have -any idea-, what you just did?!" He shouted at them.
It stayed quiet. Medic seemed to be a bit moved, Soldier grimaced in confusion, but Scout was deeply terrified. And as he couldn't stand the tension anymore, he ran past Spy and into the smoking room.
"I did not meant to talk about it yet, but I will tell you the truth." Spy said after a pause. He quickly looked back at the smoking room before he gestured the others away. "Wait in the dining hall, I need a moment." He groaned.
Soldier was about storm and yell against that, but Medic pulled him back with him, exchanging a sour look with the Frenchman. "We will wait."
The Texan gave Spy a pat on the back, as well shaking his head with some kind of disappointment, before he closed up to the rest.
The smoking room was to be interrupted one more time, as Spy carefully entered it. To his relief, he found the both mercenaries sitting next to each other in front of the furnace, not talking, but calmly and without any hostility. Once he had decided that it was better to leave them like that, he gave himself a moment to simply look at them. Scout had been the first one in Sniper's room and through their following investigation, Spy had shared his thoughts with him about the discovery. He should have known better and seemed to actually realize it this time.
The door silently closed as Spy left.
"I, eh, didn't want to believe what the others said, ya know." Scout tried break the silence.
"I didn't mean it."
Sniper slightly grimaced, but gave a nod.
The younger man buried his face in his hands. "I saw the room. It still creeps me out." He slightly looked up to Sniper, but said person was just gazing at the fire.
"I've seen stuff like this before, well, something like that." Scratching his head, he tried to find the right words. "Ya know, my ma' had this boyfriend, a real freak. He bought her fancy stuff, but he was totally crazy about controlling her. Shit, he didn't accept it when she told him that it was over. My ma' had broken up with him, but that friggin' bastard always came back. He followed her to work or to her favourite bar. My brothers tried to beat him up good, but we had to call the cops in the end. He got bagged, but man, every call he is allowed to make in prison is addressed to my ma'. He just doesn't leave her alone."
He looked back and forth, not sure if it was okay to look at Sniper.
"I'm just-,... I'm just freaked out, man."
"I'm scared, too, Scout. I feel like I could chunder any moment. But I'm also mad as a cut snake."
"Eh, 'kay." Scout swallowed. "Is it-, is it okay if I talk to you? I mean, I really fucked up there, I didn't mean to-"
"It's alright, mate. I'll listen to ya."
The runner lit up a bit, although the Australian still won't look back at him.
"So-...that guy." He started again. "He did that to-, I don't know, impress you? Like, you're his VIP. You-, you have seen that room, did ya?"
"I did."
"Shit, man."
"Yeah."
"And that head-" Scout frowned as he recalled what he had seen."Holy shit, just- holy shit."
"What he did there, that's just bloody despicable. Hell, I did not ask for this shit." Sniper let out a heavy sigh. "I didn't ask for any of this."
"But you gotta talk to us, man! You can't just-, run away. We're all in this together!"
Scout slightly flinched as Sniper suddenly turned to look at him. "Okay, yeah, you maybe more than us. But, uhm..."
Sniper sighed again.
"Sorry." Scout quickly added.
"You should go, the others have probably a lot crazy stuff to talk about."
While he hesitated to go up, Scout tried to give him a smile. "Uhm, you won't come?"
"No." Was the short but determined answer.
Scout clapped in his hands, looked back a few times while walking towards the door. "I've got your back, ya know." He quietly said before leaving the room.
The dining hall was filled with whispers and mumbles as Spy entered it. On the dining table, he saw the box. And six people either sitting or standing around it. Medic turned to him as he entered, giving him a weird look.
Spy sighed. "You brought this- 'slander' in?"
"What else was I supposed to do?" Medic asked. "Well-, you wanted to tell us something?" He added expectantly.
Everyone was looking at the masked man by now, so he paused for a moment, trying to settle his thoughts before he spoke. After that he took slow steps towards the table, and towards the box.
"You all have seen the room. But we've had no time to talk about that yet." He gestured the ones who still stood to sit on the table. Then he carefully pulled the box over.
"This is not a trophy. The room is not some crazy self-fulfillment. And our Sniper did none of these things." He stated the facts.
"However, everything that happened here had to do with him." Spoken with care, Spy tried to keep the upcoming scolding gentle.
"You made some hasty judgements and I want to make clear that none of them are true."
He slightly opened the lid and let out a heavy sigh. It wasn't a pretty sight and nearly brought him to grief.
"The BLU Spy and I were colleagues, we had known each other before we were hired here at BLU and RED. He was an honorable Spy and someone who valued professionalism. I do not wish to see him like this, so I suggest that we will bring the box back to BLU."
"You want to talk to the BLUs?" Scout asked as he came in. Spy turned to him whilst raising a brow.
"Yes. As it seems, the BLU had buried their Spy, but the killer had dug him out. I want to lay him back to rest." He closed the lid and laid his hand on it.
"Enough of that. We wanted to talk about Sniper." Medic said with a mix of annoyance and curiosity.
Spy took his time to let Scout sit down first before he continued.
"Actually, we wanted to talk about the person who is after him."
He paused to look at his team.
"It's someone from his past. Someone who met him long ago. He followed him over the years, before he took action, and brought himself to our attention."
He paused another time to take deep breath.
"Sniper has an homicidal stalker. A madman, but also insanely skilled person."
Most of the listening six men frowned in confusion, some showed disgust.
"Please be aware that this could have happen to anyone. Try to understand your teammate's situation. Sniper had good reasons to panic, as that lunatic had truly crossed a line."
He tipped on the box. "And instead of judging, you should support him. This man has watched your back over all the years and you should return that favor."
"No one deserves this shit." Scout muttered. Spy gave him an appreciative look, but also furrowed his brows.
"Scout, Sniper was still in my smoking room, oui?"
The young man nodded.
"Then please go back and make sure that he still there. Only a quick look inside, stay close to the door. He needs some space right now, but I feel uncomfortable leaving him alone after all this."
Scout nodded quickly and immediately got up to follow Spy's words.
"The other victims of this-" Spy started again. "I can't look into that man's mind, his logic is far from reasonable. But I can tell you, it happened out of envy. He decided to target and kill the only two BLU who had a more personal connection to him. The Spy was his respected arch-enemy and the Scout came to him for answers. None of the other BLUs seem to have been targeted and none of them ever interacted with Sniper in the same way. As for us-"
He stopped to face their Medic. "He only tried to assassinate the two persons who took care of him, medically and mentally. This all became clear as his intentions towards Sniper were revealed."
"So he kills anyone who's too friendly ta him, eh?" Demoman tried to sum it up.
"Basically...yes." Was Spys short answer, already fearing what was coming next.
"How we support friend, if we can't be nice?" Heavy asked with a concerned face.
Engineer tipped his hat. "This ain't gonna be easy, boys. That man maybe insane, but he is truly a genius as well." The Texan switched his view to their Medic. "But we should make sure to help our pardner back to his feet."
After their Engineer finished, Pyro got up and went towards the smoking room. Spy took a sharp breath in, considering if he should stop him, but decided to let it be.
Medic had closed his eyes as he seemed to accept his mistake. "You said that person is known from Sniper's past ?" He asked.
"Some of the photographs in that very room are old, and they weren't taken here. I asked Sniper if he could figure out who it could be, but we haven't gotten far yet. We have an incomplete profile with no name or face so far. I hope that he can remember more if he has a look at the photos. But he is mentally stricken and needs some rest before we take that step."
"Yeah, about that..." Scout had entered the room.
"...Oui?" Spy said with a sharp, demanding voice as he turned around.
"Snipes just went to his room. I don't know, he didn't say something. But, uhm, Pyro is with him!"
Spy gritted his teeth and breathed through them. "Pardon me." He said, still with clenched teeth, and rushed pass Scout out of the dining hall.
The room seemed to be silent and Spy was probably more nervous than he should be. Sniper's mental stability was in question and against Spy's better judgement, he'd decided to return to a place he shouldn't. Especially alone. Spy carefully opened the door, Scout close behind him, trying to peek over his shoulder.
They saw their Pyro circling around some photographs which laid on the ground. Someone had gone through the mess on the walls and torn most of them down. And then there was Sniper, sitting cross legged on the middle of his bed. The Australian had scattered a lot photos around him, holding some in his hands and was staring at them.
Upon entering the room, Spy shoved Scout back, meaning him to stay outside.
"Lawrence, are you okay?"
Spy took a few steps forward as Sniper didn't answer. He was still browsing through the pictures in his hands, then threw two aside, picking up new ones right after.
"You don't have to do this right now. We can come back to this when you are really ready to-."
"I'm ready." Sniper interrupted him suddenly. "Ready to kill that bloody mongrel."
Both of the other present mercenaries exchanged a look, or rather Spy tried to look at Pyro in confusion, as he then looked back at Sniper.
"You know who he is? You remember now?"
"No." Sniper threw the remaining photographs in his hands away. "Not really. I only know that I must have known him for a long time. And-" He took a sharp breath in. "We went to the same high school, I guess."
Now he had Spy's curiosity. Scout peeked through the door again and was not held back as Spy already moved over to Snipers bed. The Marksman scratched his stubble.
"Ya see, I remember most places. Like this one." He turned around and browsed through the mess on his bed, picked a few photos up before he found the one he was searching for. "This is back in Brisbane. The St. Joseph's Nudge School for Boys. It's inside the gym, I remember that rugby game. One of the few days we practiced indoors because of flooding."
The picture was one of the oldest and showed Sniper in his late teenage years.
"Hell, that's really a long time ago." Sniper seemed to be trapped in his memories now.
Spy furrowed his brows as he looked at the picture. "So it is possible that you were classmates?"
"Maybe." Sniper just shrugged. Spy was not sure yet if he could trust Snipers calm.
"That is interesting, indeed. I actually thought that you both may have met through your assasination work at some point."
Spy looked back and forth from Sniper and the photo he held. "You already look pretty mature at that age."
Sniper shrugged again. "Was an early bloomer. Had my voice break when I turned twelve." Both looked back at the photo and Sniper smirked.
Scout had slipped into the room, careful and creeped out, not to step on any pictures on the ground. Pyro didn't pick up anything, but pulled the young man over to point at some pictures he was supposed to look at.
"This one is at school, too. Our school yard, I'm on that tree there." Sniper picked up another photo and showed it to Spy, pointing at himself on it. Spy raised a brow upon looking at that.
"This is a point where I don't quite understand. He made all this pictures, followed you over years, but decided to turn homicidal now?" Spy frowned while looking at his teammate. He did not intend to stare, but tried to study his face, tried to figure out if his friend was actually feeling well. To his surprise he found Sniper back in his thoughts, but with a little smile as he would think about some good memories.
"Here, this is from Tallebudgera Creek near Brisbane. I used to swim there a lot." Sniper showed him another photo. In this, the Australian was to be seen in his swimsuit standing at the shore of a beautiful beach, looking at the ocean.
"Lawrence, are you really feeling well?" Spy repeated his first question, as Sniper had ignored his last one. Sniper turned to meet his eyes, his face showed no signs of fear or panic.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I won't let this get the better of me again. I'm over it." His voice was strong and without any doubts. Spy nodded lightly and tried to follow Snipers new mood swing.
"Okay. I just want to be sure."
"Hey, uhm, I think Pyro found something you should look at." Scout interrupted their conversation, as he looked at some photographs that were still on the wall. Spy walked around the bed, ignoring the photos he stepped on, as Sniper got up from his bed. Both older men looked over Scout's and Pyro's shoulders at a picture the youngest mercenary was pointing at.
It showed an already middle-aged Sniper at a bus station, casually dressed and with a suitcase that could have had his rifle in it.
"What so special about that? I think, uhm, gimme a moment." Sniper shoved them aside to have a closer look. "Ah, yeah." He pointed at it. "North Italy, 1959. I had a contract running there, but I just stayed for a few days." He looked back at Scout. "And?"
Pyro squeezed through the group and pointed at the roofed bus stop, or rather at its glass sides. The others closed ranks to look at what they pointed at.
"Oh." Spy let out a gasp. "I see."
It was very faint, but there was a reflection in the glass. A reflection of a person holding a camera.
Update: I downgraded the story from M to T because I just found out that M rated stories won't appear in the normal search bar. As soon as the story reaches a point where it can't be considered T-rated anymore, I will update that again.
Also, this stoy is NOT abandoned! I will update more later on.
