Chapter 7: The Battle of Dustbowl

Dear Mom,

How is everything at home? I'm writing to let you know that I'm still alive and I think about you every night while I'm out here. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what I've been doing or what I'm up to should this message fall into the wrong hands, though I can tell you I am posted at the Dustbowl Front. During the day, it's a scorching inferno, but after my two weeks at boot camp, I'm pretty much used to hot weather. Also, I finally found a man that drinks more than Uncle Daniel: he's a demoman who seems to always have a bottle of something in his hand everytime I see him. However, believe it or not, he saved my life today. Anyways, I miss you and I hope that I will come home to see you again.

Love,

Kristel

P.S.: Tell Kerry I said hi and that I love her.

She put down the pen and neatly folded the letter. She was seated outside of Razor's tent, where he was chewing out AtlasEXE

"Atlas, Atlas, Atlas…"

AtlasEXE was in shame. The destruction of the Steamroller Tank had angered Razor enough to yank AtlasEXE into his tent and demand an explanation. "Not I'm not angry. All I want to know is why the Steamroller Tank was destroyed so easily." AtlasEXE remained silent. "Now the Steamroller Tank was supposed to be the deciding factor in this little stalemate. It was supposed to be the piece that finally gets us into that Blue Team lab. Instead, a spy sneaks in RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSE AND BLOWS THE DAMN THING UP! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?" he was demanding answers.

AtlasEXE finally spoke. "I assure you, I spy checked EVERYONE. I made triple sure to check every person. Hell, I even did it twice just to be sure. No one registered." "Now, I believe when you say you spy checked everyone. I know you aren't so stupid as to neglect such an important task. However, the fact of the matter is a spy still managed to sneak on board and destroy the tank. Now either your device is defective, the spy managed to invent some method of circumventing it, or you were SIMPLY CARELESS AFTER THE SPY CHECK!" Razor yelled. "What do you mean 'careless'?" AtlasEXE wondered.

"Well, sometime in-between your spy check and boarding the tank, Billy from Alpha Squad decided to use the restroom. Now that would give a good spy ample time to kill him, assume his identity and sneak onboard with the rest of the squad, which is EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED! Listen, anytime a person leaves your sight after being spy checked, SPY CHECK HIM AGAIN UPON HIS RETURN! IT TAKES LESS THAN 2 BLOODY SECONDS!"

"It wasn't my fault. It was that damn Gustavo the Chameleon." AtlasEXE pleaded. "What a shame. If you had followed procedure, you could have easily caught him, but you didn't. I'm through with you, Atlas, get the fuck out of here." Razor said in a disgusted tone. "But, Razor…" "I SAID GET THE FUCK OUT, YA WANKER! NOOOWWW!" Razor bellowed. "ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT." AtlasEXE said as he stumbled out of the tent.

When he came out of the tent and walked away, Kristel joined him. "You okay, Atlas? Razor sounded rather mad in there." She asked, worried. "I'm fine. It's not the first time he's yelled at me for letting that bloke Gustavo sneak in and do somethin' like that. He'll be in good spirits tomorrow." He reassured her. "Who's Gustavo?" she wondered.

"Ahh yes, Gustavo the Chameleon. I should have told you about him sooner. He's a Blue Team Spy, and a slippery one at that. Everyone we try to make something, that guy's two steps ahead of us and blows the damn thing to smithereens before we can even figure out what's going on. Another thing is: if you know he's lurking, you better watch your back, mate. That innocuous looking Red Team behind you could very well be him and the next thing you know, there's a knife in your back and you're nothing more than a bloody corpse on the ground."

AtlasEXE's words caused Kristel to shudder. Could that happen to me. That man could stab me in the back at any time and I couldn't do a thing about it. AtlasEXE laughed. "Don't worry, my girl. You're pretty damn fast, he shouldn't able to keep up with you. Just do what you do and you'll be fine." He slapped her on the back. "Well, I guess. By the way, have you ever seen him?" she asked. "Ohh yeah, I've seen the fellow. Bit of a odd fashion sense for a man. He wears a blue suit, but he also wears a blue baklava over his face. By the time I ever have the chance to point my gun at him, he disappears like that." He snapped his fingers. "Huh?" Kristel wondered. "He uses some sort of cloaking device to hide from us. Bloody thing renders him completely invincible." AtlasEXE replied. "But don't our spies use the same thing." she asked. "Ohh yeah, we have the cloaking technology, but the thing is: he knows how to use it well." he replied.

Just then, the two heard a loud belch erupt from a tent. "DAMMIT, CYCLOPS, WHERE ARE YOUR MANNERS!" AtlasEXE yelled at him. "Hey, what's your problem, boyo?" Cyclops said, emerging from the tent with a liquor bottle in each hand. "Better out than in, ehhh?" he added, nudging Kristel. "Really, Cyclops, in front of her?" AtlasEXE scolded. "It's alright, really." she said modestly, resting her hand on the back of her head. AtlasEXE noted the two bottle Cyclops was holding. "Cyclops, you're the only man I know that dual wields liquor bottles." he said. "Ain't it lovely, boyo. I got two different bottles that I take alternating drinks from. I get twice the flavor, I get twice as drunk and I have twice the fun." Cyclops let out a hearty laugh. Not to mention you kill twice as many brain cells. Kristel thought.

Dinner later that night consisted of MREs, each of which contained a chicken breast, corn and a slice of bread. The officers Sidewinder, AtlasEXE and Razor were in a conference, planning their next move on the Blue Team lab. Kristel sat next to Cyclops, taking small bites of her chicken while Cyclops was taking large swigs of whiskey. "Hey Kristel, wanna try a sip of me bottle." he said, offering a sip. "Err, no thanks." she says, holding her palms up. "Hey I'd like a sip." said a soldier sitting across from them. "GIT YOUR OWN, YA BLOODY PONCE!" he roared at him, then turned back to Kristel. "Ya sure you don't want to try it." he asked. "No, I'm good." she said. "Not even a little baby sip. It won't even faze ya." he continued. "Well, alright, just a little." she said as she took the bottle. She gingerly took a small sip, then coughed and gave the bottle back to Cyclops, spitting against the bitter taste. Ick! How does he drink this stuff? She wondered, placing a huge bite of chicken in her mouth to get the taste out. "Heh heh heh, I don't blame ya. It's an acquired taste." Cyclops laughed and took another swig.

Five minutes later, AtlasEXE approached Kristel. "Oi, Kristel. Razor needs to see you for a sec." he said. Huh, am I in trouble or something. She thought, a nervous look creeping on her face as she got up to follow him.

He lead her the the briefing tent. Razor was standing by another map, Sidewinder was seated by the table, sitting in quiet thought. "Ahh yes, have a seat, Ms. Wright." Razor instructed. Kristel obeyed.

"Am I in trouble." she asked. "What? No, not at all, I'm just going over our next attack plan with you." he smiled, reassuring her. "Okay, but why just me?" she asked. "Well, you are the most important person in our next assault and I need to address you personally." he said.

"Before I begin, let me outline to you the situation. We have uncovered an old mining town that connects to a back door in the Blue Team labs. Now security around there is very light, but there are three gates that lock the place down. However, hacking those gates should be easy. However, once the gates are hacked, Dr. Giftspritze will no doubt be alerted and send a team of Blue Team soldiers to intercept you. They usual consist of engineers to build sentry guns, demomen to keep you pinned back by continuously lobbing grenades as well as some soldiers and heavies."

"You will be leading a team of men to capture control points set up by the Blue Team that serves as beacons for them to send soldiers into. Now there are three sectors, each with two control points. If you take the two control points, the sector will no longer belong to them and they will have to fall, allowing us to send in reinforcements at that point. The final control point will be in a old rocket bay at the back of the lab. Once you take that point, you will be able to storm the base. At that point, you'll enter the base and grab the Übercharge plans."

His tone then became more serious as he stared directly into Kristel's eyes. "Now I understand that Dr. Giftspritze was responsible for killing your father. Though I sympathize with your plight, I must remind you to not let personal vendettas get in the way of your mission. Your top priority is to get your hands on the Übercharge blueprints. Then, if you have a shot at him, take it. Any questions?"

"Yes, will you be coming?" she asked. "Yes, I will be supporting you. However, you will be taking the main leadership role during the mission. I want to see what you are capable of, understand?" he asked. "Yes, sir!" she said. "Also, Atlas and Sidewinder will be going along as well to provide support, building turrets to hold chokepoints, building dispensers to provide ammo and health in the field." he added. "Now, do you think he can handle this?" he asked.

Wow, barely two days on the Red Team and already, I'm responsible for leading the assault on a Blue Team lab, but can I really do this. Why does Razor have so much confidence in me? I know how to point a gun the right way and I'm fast on my feet, but I'm not an expert at military strategy...

All of the sudden, she blurted. "Yes sir, I can do this sir!" Razor smiled. "Heh heh heh, just like your father, always willin' to take charge. Alright, the men are tired today, so we'll brief them tomorrow. You're dismissed." he said. AtlasEXE then gave her a book on military strategy. "Here, in case you need a hand, take this book, this should give you a little boost in your thinking." he said. "Thanks." she replied.

Kristel walked out the tent half honored and half nervous. Though she felt honored that Razor would ask her to lead an assault, she was still nervous about whether she actually could do it. Her anxiety grew after she had suddenly told him "Yes sir." without fully thinking it through.

She went back to her tent to reflect. Why did I suddenly just blurt that out? Did I simply not want to disappoint him? Now that I did accept his challenge, there is no turning back. What if I fail. Will I get chewed out like Atlas? Or worse: will I get discharged from the Red Team and sent home?

She worried on for a couple of hours. However, a new surge of confidence then hit her. Cmon, Kristel, you whiny bitch. You're beating yourself up too much. With that kind of attitude, you'll fail for sure. Of course you can do this. Just you watch. You'll show Razor what Kristel Wright is capable of tomorrow! She smiled to herself.

She then shifted her thoughts to what sort of men she'll need. She had the book on military strategy AtlasEXE gave to her oppened. Alright, I'm a scout. I've already got a sniper and two engineers going along with me. Now I'll probably bring along my own demoman to clear any sticky mines that get in the way. Not to mention he'd be handy for clearing out engineer garrisons without endangering my team. I'd also probably want a heavy...no, skip the heavy. Though some soldiers are a must. Ohh, and I'll want a medic too. No wait...yeah I want the medic. Maybe I bring the heavy, too... She kept thinking until her eyes shut and she drifted off to sleep.

She awoke the next day and look outside of the tent. The sun was almost up over the canyon. Not a single cloud was in the sky. She had changed into her uniform and grabbed her scattergun. "No turning back, Kristel. You will either be a hero or a total failure by the end of the day." she said as she left for the briefing tent.

Razor was already there, along with Sidewinder. "Mornin' Kristel." Sidewinder greeted her as she walked into the tent. She turned her attention to Razor. "Alright Razor, I've decided what kind of men we'll need." she said to him. "Oh?" he said to her. "Well, I'm willing to bet there will be some engineers around, so I'm going to recruit Cyclops onto our team. I will also need two soldiers, a medic and a spy." she said to him. "Sorry, Kristel, we lost our last spy." Razor replied. "Very well, replace that spy with another soldier then." she said without skipping a beat.

AtlasEXE ran into the tent. "Sorry mates, I hope I'm not late, I had to, er..." he was cut off. "You're not late, Atlas, we haven't even started yet." Razor said to him. "Well now that you're here, round up Cyclops, three soldiers and a medic." he added. "Yes sir." AtlasEXE replied.

"Alright, listen up." Kristel said to the men who had walked in and taken a seat. "We've found a back door into the Blue Team lab: it's an old mining town that has light security at best. However, the place is sealed off right now. Now we've figured out how to hack the gates open, so they won't be expected us to come in."

She then explained to them about the control points as well as how they worked. "Ohh yeah one more thing: we got to be quick. Once Giftspritze knows we are moving in, he will no doubt call for reinforcement to overwhelm us. Good luck." she said to the team. Ŝame to you Kristel. You'll need it today. She thought to herself.

Dr. Giftspritze was in his office, calmly sipping a cup of tea whilst sitting back in his leather chair. "Sometime, I wonder." he said out loud to himself. "When will those Red Team schweinhunden learn to just surrender. It's only going to be more painful in the end if they continue fighting when they know I will own both their flag and ours. Is there truly one among them that could achieve my downfall." he laughed.

Suddenly, a message came on over his radio. "Doctor, we've got a problem. The outer entrance of the mining town is being hacked. I think the Red Team is trying to get in through there." he said. Dr. Giftspritze sighed. "Send in our army to crush them. When they come out that door, blow them to smithereens." he said flatly. "Sir, all of our forces are occupied trying to fix up our outpost in the canyon." the radio responded. "Ach! Alert whatever forces we do have in the area that there will be some Red Team intruders coming in. I'll contact Blue Command to send reinforcements in." he said. "Yes sir."

The mining town was split into three sectors. On one end of the first sector was a base that housed Blue Team members currently posted there. The base's intercom system went off to alert them. "ATTENTION! ATTENTION! WE HAVE INTRUDERS HACKING OPEN THE GATES TO SECTOR ONE! ALL UNITS REPORT TO THE GATES, SET UP DEFENSES, AND TERMINATE THE INTRUDERS!" A group of men, which consisted off three engineers, two demomen, two soldiers, a medic and a heavy left the base.

On the other side of sector one lied a small cave with three exits, each one blocked by a gate. AtlasEXE, however, was hacking open the gates. "Sixty seconds." he yelled. Kristel looked out and ran between each of the gates. The middle gate ran down a canyon like passage that led up to passages on the far side. On the right of ridge was a small hut closer to the Red Team and on the left was a building, which housed the first control point. In ten seconds, Blue Team men poured out of the passages. Two of the engineers ran inside of the building and constructed sentry guns inside. Another person set up a sentry on the far side. The demomen posted themselves near each of the ridge entrances.

"Thirty seconds!" AtlasEXE spoke out. Razor spotted a heavy on the far side. "Once that gate opens, I'm going to plant one in that Heavy's eyes. Then I'll take down the sentry to make things easier for you guys." he said, aiming his sniper rifle. "Alright, we'll need someone to help take out these demomen. Once the gates open, they'll be spamming grenades in here left and right." Kristel said to her squad. "I'll blow up the guy on the left!" Cyclops yelled. "Alright, we'll send a soldier and medic combo up the right to deal with the right side's demoman. Razor, give me cover while I and another soldier go up the middle, alright." she added. "No problem." Razor replied, still aiming.

"TEN SECONDS!" AtlasEXE yelled. Kristel stared down the middle. It was the hundred meter sprint all over again, except this time she had faster shoes, people were shooting at her and the only thing she was racing against was time. If she wasn't able to take control of all six points before Giftspritze's reinforcements arrived, there was no doubt that she would never be able to make it inside the base. "FIVE! FOUR!" Kristel got ready to run, and Razor held his breath. "THREE! TWO!" Razor began to squeeze the trigger. "ONE! GO! GO! GOOOO!"

The gates open, and explosions and gunfire immediately rang out. Razor's shot fired off and before the Blue heavy could even fire off a single shot, he had a bullet place in between his eyes. Cyclops' grenades poured out to meet the enemy demoman lobbing his own grenades. The soldier on the right, unfortunately, was taken out by the grenades lobbed by the rightmost demoman.

As Kristel sprinted, she looked at the sentry gun looming in the distance. Once she got in range, it would start shooting her down where she stood. However, a rocket shot from behind her and over her, heading for the turret and colliding with it. The turret still stood, but smokes started appearing from. Luckily for her, Razor had a shot lined up with the turret and fired, taking it out for good.

The demoman on the right then turns his attention to Kristel. He lobbed grenades into the trench she ran down. Once she saw the grenades bounce in front of her, she jump to avoid him. She took a second jump while in midair to avoid the rocket that was fired at her feet. She fired her scattergun off to the side to try and pin the soldier that was shooting rockets at her down.

This lapse in attention gave AtlasEXE and the medic a golden opportunity to sneak up on the demoman. AtlasEXE whipped out his Wrench and the medic whipped out his bone saw. In a combined rush, the two ran up to the demoman and took him out from behind. "How do you like that?" he yelled at the demoman's corpse. "GET DOWN!" the medic yelled. A rocket soared towards the two, giving them barely enough time to dive out of the way.

Cyclops eventually overtook the demoman on the left and began his run down the left ridge, followed by Sidewinder. Kristel made it to the end of the trench and saw the engineer under a high up train track leading into the building, attempting to build a sentry. She aimed her Scattergun and fired at the engineer. He whipped out his own shotgun and fired back, however, Kristel's scattergun eventually overtook him. She then destroyed the sentry by beating it to death with her baseball bat.

"CHECK THIS SHIT OUT." Kristel heard the soldier say from the trench, who had his rocket launcher aimed at the ground. He fired at the ground and jumped. The blast propelled him up from the trench and onto the left ridge in front of Cyclops and Sidewinder. The fuck? Did he just do that? She thought, astonished. The sheer oddity of it all: not only did the soldier attempt to blow up himself, but he did it so he could boost himself up to a higher place. She immediately remembered her drill instructor on her first day of training. She remembered a comment about the only other people able to scale the same heights she could were a suicidal soldier and a demoman with a sticky bomb. She looked over at Cyclops. Don't get any ideas, I need you in one piece... she thought.

The Soldier that rocket jumped went inside of the building. However, two sentry guns set up inside immediately fired bullets and rifles at him. Piercing through his skin and painting the room a dark shade of red. Kristel put her back up to the door on her side leading him. "DON'T GO IN!" she yelled. "Don't have to tell me twice." Sidewinder. "Cyclops, lob some grenades in." She yelled. "Alright, Lassie!" he replied and fired grenades inside. The engineers inside ran away from their turrets and tried running out of the base through the train tracks leading to a cave up above. Kristel was able to tag one of them with her scattergun, however the other one got away. The soldiers inside, however stood their ground, firing rockets out at Cyclops and Kristel. Cyclops, however, stayed off to the side and banked grenades off of the wall, allowing them to kill one of the soldiers.

The other one ran and knocked Kristel down by hitting her with his Rocket Laucher. She saw the Rocket Launcher pointed at her, ready to blow her up. A shotgun gun then sailed over her head and struck the soldier, taking him. "Are you okay?" AtlasEXE ran over to her, picking her up off the ground. "Yeah, I'm alright, just a slight bruise though." she said, feeling wobbly and clutching her chest. The medic took out his medic gun and fired a beam of red energy into her. The energy was a strange formula that was previously developed by Dr. Giftspritze, but was stolen and used for Red Team purposes. Her wounds had not only felt like new, but she felt new found energy within her, almost like a burst of adrenaline. "Thanks, doctor." she said to him.

Cyclops had just finished eliminating the two sentries planting inside. With no engineers to guard they, they were easy prey for his sticky bombs. Kristel, Sidewinder, AtlasEXE, and the medic then joined him to take control of the point. "Well, that was easy." AtlasEXE exclaimed. Razor came up from the left ridge to join them. "Alright. Atlas, Sidewinder, place some teleporters here. They will be able to provide a link back to base and allow us to send reinforcements to the front immediately." he said to the two. "Yes sir." they both replied and constructed teleporters.

Once they were finished, two soldiers were beamed in to replace the dead ones. "Alright, lets go." Kristel said to the squad and led them through the cave. She noted the path being a set of train tracks as well as a mine cart at the end of the path. However, she led them left at the end, looking into a field.

An open shack was on the far side of the field, which housed the second control point. The Blue base was not too far to the right. The only thing there was an engineer trying to set up a turret. "Take him out." Kristel said to one of the soldiers. "Roger that. One control point coming right." he said as he ran across the field, firing his rocket launcher. The engineer dived and was able to survive the rocket, however his turret fell.

A group of five Blue soldiers then emerged from the right, all firing their rocket launchers at the Red Soldier crossing the field. The multitude of explosions caught up with the slower moving soldier and killed him where he was. Once the soldiers made it to his body, they directed their attention towards the cave containing the remainder of Kristel's squad. "FALL BACK!" she yelled, firing her scattergun for cover fire. "You two, search the cave. The rest of you, spread out among here, we can't let them take the control point." One of the Blue Soldiers said.

The Blue soldiers searched the cave. They followed the trail of train tracks all the way out to control point one. Unfortunately for them, AtlasEXE and Sidewinder already had turrets set up ready to blow them away. Before they could react, the turrets made quick work of the scouting soldiers. "Alright, they've got plenty of protection around the base. There are at least three soldiers and an engineer. Possibly a medic too." Razor said to the squad. "Hmm, there's a path along those upper tracks I saw an engineer escape along earlier. If I'm thinking things correctly, we can use that path to sneak into the point." Kristel replied. "Alright, Cyclops, Serial, you are with me." she said, pointing to Cyclops and the medic. "The rest of you go back through the caves, but proceed with caution." she added.

Serial and Cyclops followed Kristel inside of the upper cave. "Hmm, I wonder what they were mining for in here." Serial wondered. "Maybe it was liquor." Cyclops suggested. "Oh please, you don't mine for liquor, you idiot." he responded irritably. "Well, they should have. Imagine: pickin' away at the earth with your pickax. All of the sudden, whiskey comes bubblin' up from the ground and spurts all over the place. That's my kind of gold right there." Cyclops said. "Do you think about anything other than getting drunk off your ass all the time." Serial scolded. "Enough, let's keep moving." Kristel said to the two.

They stopped at an opening. Kristel peeked around the corner and saw a soldier posted there. "Lob some sticky grenades over." Kristel signalled to Cyclops. "'EY, BOYO! I'VE GOT A PRESENT FOR YA!" Cyclops yelled as he lobbed his sticky grenades at the soldier's feet. Before he could react, he detonated them as the third one landed, blowing him up. This alerted the other soldiers, causing them to fire rockets on Cyclops' position.

The squad from the other cave poured out into the field. Rockets and bullets filled the air and held the soldiers back. However, more soldiers and a couple of heavies poured out from the base to meet the Red squad. "TAKE 'EM OUT" AtlasEXE yelled to the soldiers in his squad. "I'll cover ya, take the control point." Cyclops yelled, happily lobbing grenades into the Blue squad exiting the base.

Kristel and Serial exited from the gate leading to where the soldier stood and ran downstairs to the shack, avoiding the Blue Soldiers' rockets and the Blue heavies' bullets as they went. Serial gave Kristel a blast of adrenaline through his medic gun as they descended towards the control point. A sentry gun with an engineer behind it was waiting for the two at the bottom. Serial whipped out a flechette gun specially fitted to fire syringes and aimed at the engineer. He fired off a burst of syringes and struck the engineer in the face, causing him to fall. Kristel dove over the sentry gun and fired her scattergun at it. The sentry blew up, but not before harming Serial. "Are you okay?" Kristel said to him. "Go on without me. Get the control point!" he said to her, clutching his wounds. She knelt down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not leaving you behind. Now let's go." She lifted the medic up and supported him with her shoulder. She lead him over to the control point and place him down onto it.

"Oh no you don't" a Blue Soldier fired a rocket at the two, but missed. Razor's shot then rang out from the cave and struck the threatening soldier in the head, killing him and allowing Kristel and the wounded Serial to take control of the final point. "WE'VE LOST SECTOR ONE! FALL BACK!" The Blue Soldier yelled. The Red squad had completely filled the center field and chased down the retreating soldiers and heavies. They did not put up a fight as the Red Team took them out one by one.

Razor then approached Kristel. "So far, so good. What are the casualties." he said to her. "We've lost at least four soldiers. Plus Serial here is injured." She said to him. "Atlas! Sidewinder! Set up teleporters. We'll get another medic in here and have him patched up in no time."

----

Giftspritze watched a set of monitors, still sipping tea. "Sir, they've taken control of sector one." a voice over his radio responded. "I can see zat, I am not blind, dummkopf." he replied. "Send a team to guard sector two. I want those Red motherfuckers DEAD!" he added. "Yes sir." the radio responded. He sat back. Whoever is spearheading this assault, you've got guts. Lets see if you've got what it takes to defeat Dr. Manfred Giftspritze... he thought.

----

On the far side of sector two, a base similar to the first layed, a control point was next to it on a wooden platform. "ATTENTION! SECTOR TWO!" the intercom in the base yelled out. "SECTOR ONE HAS BEEN COMPROMISED. MOVE OUT AND DEFEND SECTOR TWO. DO NOT LET THE RED TEAM THROUGH" it added and clicked off.

The Blue Team was already setting up defenses in sector two when they heard that sector one was under attack, however, when the alarm went off, an additional team was dispatched, consisting of three soldiers, two demomen, two medics, a heavy and a pyro.

"Sixty seconds 'til I get the second gate open." AtlasEXE said to the squad. Kristel surveyed the surroundings through the gate. There was a broken down shack on the right and a larger wooden house on the left, with a bunker out front. Blue Team engineers had already set up turrets inside, and an additional team was already flooding the area to aid the engineers. Her team was in a ditch where the Blue demomen could easily roll grenades down the hill and blow up her forces.

Fortunately for her, AtlasEXE and Sidewinder's teleportation grid was already online inside the former Blue Team base in sector one. Soldiers, Medics, and Heavies were beamed in to aid the fight. Though she was happy for the reinforcements, at the same time, she knew that they would be walking into a death trap. The spot in front of the gates where the soldiers and heavies stood with their rocket launcher and mini guns ready would be lit up with explosives within a millisecond of the gates opening.

"Kristel, I think I found an alternate passage." Razor signaled her to an opening with a gate on it. "They'll be concentrating their fire on those two gates over there. Now this one has a bit of an indoor path, so they won't be able to easily lob grenades into the cave from here." he said. "Cyclops, Serial, come over here." Kristel signalled the Red demoman and medic over. "Serial, how are your wounds." she said to the medic. "A lot better. Another medic came in and healed me right now. I don't know what we'd do without these medic guns." he said. "Yeh, just wait until they start pumping invincibility into us!" Cyclops nudged him.

"Thirty seconds!" AtlasEXE yelled out. "Alright, you two come with me and Razor. While the Blue Team is distracted with the main gates, we'll sneak around into that house on the left. If I'm correct, then the first control point is on the other side of that building." she said to them. "What of the guys over there." Serial asked, pointing to the soldiers and heavies ready to go. "We've called in more medics. Hopefully, they will be able to keep them alive." she said. Cmon, Kristel, it's alright. You're in just as much danger as they are. She thought to herself.

"TEN SECONDS!" AtlasEXE yelled. "Alright, Red Team, get ready to go!" Kristel yelled to the others. "FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE! GO GO GOOOO!"

The two Blue demomen immediately began launching grenades into the cave. Rockets from both teams entered and exit the caves. Red Team soldiers collapsed from the impact of the enemy rockets colliding with them and exploding. A Red medic and heavy combo emerged from the cave and began littering the area with bullets. "WHA HA HA HA HA HAAAA!" the heavy laughed as he filled the bunker on the left with bullets. The engineer inside stood fast, keeping his turret in shape which it fired at the giant man. Another turret was set up on the shack on the roof. The combined forces of the two overpowered the heavy weapons guy and made him crash to the earth. Blood from the man poured out and painted the surrounding sand red as the bullets pierced his skin.

Razor took aim at the roof of the shack. An engineer sat up there, repairing his turrets as Red Team rockets came to threaten it. "That engineering degree of yours isn't going to do much for ya down in hell..." he muttered under his breath as he lined up the red dot on his sniper rifle with the engineer's head. He was too busy concentration on his turret to even notice the red dot connecting with the side of his face. The bullet fired out of Razor's rifle and colliding with the red dot on the engineer's face, knocking him off the down and down to the ground.

"You guys go on ahead, I'll take care of that turret. I meet up with you in a bit." he signalled to the three. Kristel, Cyclops and Serial snuck along the side and to a stack of boxes behind on the side of the large building. The three climbed the box and saw the control point at the top. A soldier was posted on top, however, his back was turned and was concentrated with sending rockets towards the advancing Red Team forces.

Cyclops smashed a liquor bottle on the side of the building. "This one's mine." he grinned. "Wait, Cyclops!" Kristel said, but he was already on top of the platform with the control point. The explosions and gunfire from the battlefield masked the sound of Cyclops smashing his bottle, so the soldier still didn't notice him. "YAAAAAA!" Cyclops screamed and charged at the soldier. He turned around surprised as Cyclops jabbed the broken end of his liquor bottle into the soldier's neck. He knocked away the soldier's rocket launcher and jabbed the bottle into him until he was dead. "Heh heh, ME BOTTLE IS GRUMPY!" he yelled at the corpse.

Kristel and Serial climbed up to join him when they saw a man in a blue fire proof suit, and gas mask come out of the building, wielding a flamethrower. "CYCLOPS, LOOK OUT!" Kristel yelled. Cyclops turned around, and the Blue pyro sent a stream of fire at Cyclops, engulfing him. "FIRE! FIIIIIRE!" he yelled as he ran off the building. The pyro laughed maniacally and lifted his flamethrower in the air triumphantly, giving off a battle cry. "AH HA HA HA HA HAAA!" the pyro laughed in a muffled voice through his gas mask. A bat then connected with the pyro's face, knocking him down. "Take that!" Kristel yelled at him. The pyro angrily took his shotgun out and fired from the ground. Kristel dived out of the way of the blast, which gave the pyro enough time to get up, grab his flamethrower and back Kristel into a corner with a jet of flames.

Just then, a bullets came piercing through the front of the pyro's gas mask. He landed on his knees and then fell to the ground, dropping his flamethrower. "WAVE GOODBYE TO YA HEAD, WANKA." a familiar voice yelled. Kristel got us and saw Razor from down below, waving. "Thanks. Now come up here and help me take this control point." she yelled to him.

Razor climbed up to join her, along with Serial. Cyclops then emerged from the building where the pyro came from, with third degree burns all over him. "Heal me up, doctor." he said, twitching. While Razor and Kristel covered the point, Serial took out his medic gun and sent a blast of healing energy into Cyclops, healing the burns in seconds. "Thanks doc." he said to him. "No problem. I still can't believe that this is a Giftspritze invention though." Serial mused. "He creates devices to save lives, but yet, he is more concerned with ending them. Why is that."

He was interrupted when two heavies loomed in the distance, shooting mini gun rounds at them. "GET DOWN!" Kristel yelled. Cyclops lobbed grenades to deter them, however, they still kept moving. The engineer from inside the building came up, shotgun in hand. Razor spotted him, ducked down and took out his MP5K. He fired a burst at the engineer, which caused him to retreat behind the wall. He then took his pistol and pointing it around the corner, blindly firing at Razor. He poked back around, and aimed the pistol at Razor, he got off a couple of shots, one hitting his leg, but was silenced by a blast from Kristel's scattergun.

"We've captured the point." Serial yelled as the Blue glow from the control point changed to red. The Red Team forces then flooded the area chasing off the Blue forces falling back to the second control point through another cave. Slowly, the sounds of gunfire and explosions came to a halt.

"Alright, REGROUP!" Kristel yelled to the Red Squad. AtlasEXE and Sidewinder followed behind them. "Alright men, we're halfway there. You two, set up some teleporters in that hut over there." She said to the two engineers, pointing out a small hut in front of the cave entrances. "The rest of you, follow me, we have to see what is on the other side of those caves."

Another house lied on the other side of the building. Across a path underneath the building was a wooden platform where Kristel spotted the second control point. On the platform, however, was a sentry gun, an engineer and a pyro. She then spotted an opening on the far right of the building, covered by a gated door. "I'll be right back." Kristel said to Razor as she dashed down a train track path to the right.

At the end of the path was the gated door. She looked through it and saw a wooden archway above the entrances. A sentry turret was posted above, with a grinning engineer guarding it. She ran back to the Red Squad. "There's a sentry gun posted above the entrances here." She said, pointed to a location above the entrances. "If we run out, It will mow us down." she said. She then signaled a soldier. "Eagle, you see that path down there? Take Serial with you and go down and destroy that turret. Once you do so, signal us, and then we'll move in." she said to him. "Yes, ma'am." the soldier said as they ran down the path.

----

"I want an update. Why haven't the Red Forces been eradicated yet?" Giftspritze yelled into a radio. "They've taken control of control point one in sector two." the radio responded. "DUMMKOPF! AT THIS RATE, THEY'LL CONTROL THE ENTIRE BASE WITHIN' HOURS!" he yelled. "Calm down, sir! We've got several sentry guns covered control point two, plus we've got a nasty surprise hidden for them...wait...WE'VE LOST THE SENTRY ABOVE THE DOOR! RED TEAM FORCES ARE MOVING IN!" the radio yelled. "YOU BETTER TAKE THEM OUT, OR I WILL PERSONALLY COME DOWN THERE AND INJECT A VIRUS INTO YOUR EYE SOCKETS! YOU UNDERSTAND!" he yelled. "Yes sir!"

----

"SCREAMIN' EAGLES!" Eagle yelled as he fired a fury of rockets at the concealed sentry turret. Both the turret and the engineer fell from the explosions. "MOVE IN!" Kristel yelled. The gunfired and explosions resumed. Razor poked around the corner and fired a sniper round at the pyro on the other hide. He missed, but caused him to retreat. The Red squad entered from all entrances and fired at the Blue forces. Soldiers ran down the middle firing their rockets at the wooden platform. They were greeted by grenades bouncing in front of them from hidden demomen. Still, they pressed on, only to stopped when they collided with the grenades.

Cyclops flanked left and fired grenades over at the defending Blue Team forces. He ran behind a giant stone slab, peeked around a saw two sentries on the far end being guarded by engineers and the pyro Razor scared off. Two Blue soldiers were also down there was as well as two demomen posted on either side of the middle pathway. A sentry was posted on a balcony above the demoman on the left.

He laughed at the Blue Team forces from behind the rock. "LOOK AT YA FINE DANDIES! PRANCING ABOUT WITH YOUR HEADS FULL OF EYEBALLS!" he mocked. This struck a nerve with one of the Blue engineers on the far side. "Want to come out and say that to my face, buddy?" he yelled. Cyclops responded by launching grenades out. "Yeah, didn't think so. You two, show that cocky son of a bitch who's boss." he said to the two posted soldiers. "Negative, stay there. It's probably a trick to draw us out." said the other engineer.

"RIGHT YOU ARE, BOYO!" Cyclops yelled as a medic charged Eagle ran onto the balcony, rocket launcher in hand, and blew up the sentry and the engineer with more rockets. He ran onto the balcony and drew his attention to the turrets down below. The turrets and soldiers down below noticed him and fired back. His rockets blew up one of the turrets, however, the other turret and the other soldiers overpowered Eagle. "Dammit, they got Eagle." Serial yelled from inside as he ran around.

Kristel ran up the stairs on the left of the building and around to the balcony. The turret was firing at Red Team soldiers pouring out from the middle path, blowing up the two demomen and firing rockets at the opposition. The pyro charged the soldiers with his flamethrower. He was blown up in the process by their rockets, but still caught the group on fire. Kristel cringed as the Red team soldiers burnt up and were finished off by the sentry gun.

The Blue Soldiers turned their attention to Kristel and fired their rockets at her. She ran across the length of the balcony, took aim at the injured sentry gun and fired at it with her sentry gun, destroying it.

Cyclops lobbed grenades towards the far end where the engineers were camped. The Blue Soldiers and engineers made a run for the back. One of the grenades, however, hit an engineer and knocked him down. The rest of them were taken out when he banked two more grenades around the corner. "It's all clear, Lassie." Cyclops yelled up to Kristel as he ran for the control point. "Roger that." she yelled back. She and Serial jumped down from the balcony and joined him on the control point. "This isn't so hard." Serial remarked. The engineer, injured, took his pistol and aimed up at Serial's head. "BEHIND YOU!" Kristel exclaimed and shot at the engineer with her own pistol, dropping him for good.

"We've taken the control point!" Cyclops said to the two. They were joined by AtlasEXE, Razor, and Sidewinder twenty seconds later. "What are our casualties." Razor said to Kristel. "Urrgghh, let me think. I know we lost Eagle." she said. "Well, if we don't get moving soon, even more of us will be dead." AtlasEXE remarked. "Right, you guys know what to do. Set up teleporters, then you hack the final gates open." Razor commanded.

-----

"WHAT!? THEY HAVE TAKEN SECTOR TWO?" Giftspritze yelled into the radio. "Yes sir. They are a lot tougher than we anticipated. We need those reinforcements soon." it responsible. "Urrrgghh. WHO IST LEADING THESE MEN!?" he asked angrily. "Uhhh, from what I can tell, it's a teenaged girl, about 18-19 I believe." was the responsible. "WHAT?! ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT MY MEN WERE BESTED BY RED TEAM FORCES UNDER THE COMMAND OF A TEENAGED GIRL!? YOU BETTER BE FUCKING JOKING ME!" he roared. "Uhhh, I think that someone else might be guiding her, because..." "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR EXCUSE, YOU FUCKING WEAK EXCUSE FOR A SOLDIER, I WANT THAT BITCH DEAD! YOU HEAR ME!?" he slammed the radio down. "Yes...sir..." quivered the voice on the other end.

"Apparently, you defenses aren't so tough after all." came a voice from behind Giftspritze. "Humph, I don't see you doing anything about it." he responded, turning around to face Gustavo the Chameleon. He stood there, leaned against a wall, with a cigarette in his mouth. "Let me just something straight to you, doctor: I don't give two shits about your lab or your experiments. If the Red Team gets a hold of your Übercharge plans, then good. It was your fault for sticking around like some pompous fool while they exploit your little blind spot and steal it right out from under your nose." He said to the doctor. "Are you saying you are not loyal to this Team? YOU TRAITOROUS SCHWEINHUND" he pointed an accusing finger at Gustavo, who simply huffed confidently. "You get me wrong. My only concern is to help my own country and to lead my country's army to victory. I am not concerned with helping a sick man such as yourself accomplish his twisted inventions." he responded. "But, if it will help you sleep at night, I shall go and assassinate the so-called teenaged girl that has been giving you trouble." he added. "You better, or else." he threatened. "Or else what, you're killed me. I'm shaken." he said sarcastically as he left the room.

So, I finally meet you, kitten. There's something special about you, and I intend to find out. That is, if my knife doesn't take care of you first...