The meeting at 1700 went quickly. The plan of nuking the BLU's was always fairly self-explanitory; they had their nuclear payload ready to go and their only real debate was choosing which of the five or six railways to load it onto. Once the decision was made and the course was plotted, the meeting was adjurned after just ten minutes. There were some questions about the grossly disporportionate ratio of men between the teams and how manually pushing a nuclear payload right into the heart of that swarming enemy base was tantamount to suicide. The administration simply glowered at them and told them that she had 'already adressed that problem, and extra measures were underway.' Whatever that could have meant was anyone's guess.
With the fighting done for the day, the men parted ways; the demolition, heavy, and scout left together to hit the bars, while the spy went on his own and the sniper went back to his camper as he did every night. The medic retreated to the BLU medic's office and the pyro continued to shoot the breeze with his extended family before finally heading out with a handfull of them. The engineer returned to his salvage work – although he spent most of that time looking around for the soldier rather than scrap. The soldier had been conspiciously silent during the meeting – probably due to the scout's blow to his 'ego' earlier that afternoon. That was a cause for slight confusion, since usually when the soldier was injured, he'd be crying for medical attention; the man was tough, but he was hardly stoic. Usually right after being given such a straight forward plan of action, the soldier was on top of everyone else, ensuring that procedure was being followed to his specifications, but this time he just marched off and disappeared. Perhaps he was out on patrol again.
He covered most of the complex in his final rounds; the intel room was vast and sparcely populated by Ms. Pauling and another much taller and redder female staff member going over some files in the low light of the big board showing the world map. They gave him a smile as he waved and kept walking down the hall. The tall girl must have been new. No sign of the soldier.
The BLU engineer's workshop had been blown inside out not too long ago; it would take a few more hours of work before RED engineer could make adequate use of the space. There was a selection of larger power tools including a laser-cutter taking up a whole corner that seemed to still be in working order, but they were still covered in plastic sheeting from the construction which was still in an unfinished state. There were still several dozen contractors running around and putting walls together; failing miserably to keep out of each others' way, let alone his. Still no sign of the soldier.
BLU more often seemed to have sleeker, more modern facilities, which may have accounted for their unique brand of carelessness – it looked as though that spot welder hadn't even been used. The engineer looked around for a trash can for his now empty donut box, until he eventually just threw that box onto a pile of crumbled drywall debris that had been swept into a corner and headed back to the truck, figuring that he might as well take a break after some sixteen straight hours of working. Maybe he would finally run into the soldier outside. The engineer was really looking forward to relieving some tension right about now.
The engineer's walk back to the truck was uncomfortably peacefull compared to the impersonal hustle and bustle going on inside the complex. Then he saw the soldier at his truck – sitting slumped on the edge of the bed, taking a long swig from a cigarrette. Odd that he'd be so still.
"Somethin' on yer mind, there, sold-…" The engineer finally saw that his sentry was down. He stopped dead in his tracks, went for his pistol and yelled "SPY!" in the hopes that somebody would hear.
"Bon wi, Laborer!" the figure of the RED soldier sprang off from the truck bed and melted into the air.
"Dammit!" the RED engineer fired once, hoping to hit the spy before he got any closer. He couldn't tell, so he went for his wrench and ran for the truck.
"Yippy-kay-yay, my illiterate friend!" The BLU spy momentarily revealed himself, but the engineer caught the shine of that blade just in time to duck. The BLU spy's knife plunged into the steel shell of the truckbed and stuck; the RED engineer took full advantage of that momentary struggle and swung his wrench as hard as he could – rendering the BLU spy visible once again when he hit him in the back.
BLU spy coughed loudly and realed from the blow, but wasn't finished. He pulled a gleeming revolver from under his jacket and fired a shot. The bullet hit RED engineer in the forearm, tearing tendons he needed to weild that wrench.
"GAA!" The RED engineer dropped his wrench and fought the urge to gawk at his now useless right hand.
"Au revoir!" With that usual raspy cackle, the BLU spy started shooting again, but the RED engineer didn't waste any time trying to dodge them as he raised his pistol again and started shooting from the hip.
"You low down dirty -!" RED engineer's next string of explitives was drowned out by his pistol fire. He kept unloading and drowing out everything but the cracks of gunfire and the trajectory of bullets tearing into that BLU suit, issuing small geysers of crimson and forcing the man down. He ended up pumping lead into the BLU spy until the slide stuck open and the trigger stopped pulling.
The engineer did not entirely register that his gun was empty until he had been standing over the BLU corpse for several seconds. He had counted more than fifteen shots fired, but he himself only had six bullets and there was no way that the spy had more than six in that antique revolver. The man's head now no longer even had a recognizable face, but the RED engineer would not let himself out of that stance until he saw the pearl handle slip limply from his enemy's dead fingers.
It was then that he finally heard a quick double-beep behind him, then another loud pop as a much higher caliber bullet screamed past his head and thouroughly exploded the BLU spy's hand. The RED engineer almost had a heart attack; he wanted to turn and run before whoever was behind him could get a second shot at him, but he was unable to move. He had been under sniper fire before; he refused to believe that he was paralized with fright in the face of it. But thanks to the delays between scans and respawn he never would have remembered his moments just before death come to think of it.
Then he heard the beep again.
He turned his head and saw his sentry perched on the roof of his truck's cab – right were he left it.
"Why you - !" That sentry was down a few seconds ago. But he didn't exactly recall if there was a sapper on it or not. There certainly wasn't one on it now, so that narrowed down the possibilites substantially.
"Were you playin' opossom?!" He shouted furiously at the little contraption.
The sentry actually dropped it's turrett down two inches – as though it were flinching at the volume of the engineer's voice.
"WELL?!" the engineer demanded, livid and getting dizzier from blood loss by the second.
The sentry pointed it's barrel downward and beeped once.
"DAGNABBIT! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO SHOOT SPIES, NOT HIDE FROM 'EM, YOU YELLA-BELLIED HUNK-A-JUNK!" The engineer furiously threw his empty pistol at the sentry, which ducked, avoiding the impact and watched it fly several feet farther before it landed in the dirt. It then spun back around and faced the engineer, who just got even more angry.
"WHAT IN THE HELL HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU?! Ah almost got KILLED juss now…" the engineer's head started spinning and he had to lean on the open bay of the truckbed. "Dammit, you're lucky Ah've gotta fix this dispenser before Ah bleed to death…" he pawed that sapper off the dispenser and began the job as best he could with his good arm. He gave the machine a few knocks with his fist until it kicked back on for a few seconds. The pink mist started flowing just long enough to stop the bleeding and return feeling in his other hand before the power source burned out.
The sentry beeped at him and followed his every movement as he leaned on the truck, breathing in and out in painful and feverish exchanges. It was typical of the sentries to observe him, but this kind of response was new. If the engineer didn't know any better, he would have thought the damn thing was trying to engage him in a non-lethal (possibly a sympathetic?) manner.
"Just do your damn job and keep an eye out for me before I come up there and turn you into a damn toaster!" The engineer yelled.
The sentry beeped at him again, but responded appropriately this time and did what it was told, returning to it's duty of scanning the immediate area for enemies.
"Damn right…" The pain was almost too much to deal with now that the nerves had been shocked back into functionality before those wounds could close. The engineer now found that he had been hit in the gut as well as his arm. At least he had the use of both hands again. He reached out and disconnected the dispenser's power supply, then began the work of trying to open it up and fix it. It didn't take long to pull the burnt capaciters and hook the good ones back up to the machine. It was technically an easy job, but he suffered throughout from the wounds, the exhertion, and the confusion. Even as his body was finally being healed, the engineer worried about what could have happened to the real soldier; he might have been taken out by that spy, but if that was the case, he would have popped out of respawn some time ago. He wracked his brain, trying to think of what action needed to be taken next, and looked back up at that sentry with concern. There must have been a short or something that caused it to prioritize self-preservation before it's primary function. Whatever the problem was – he couldn't allow it to happen again – especially now that things were getting intense again.
"Now let's see what's gotten into you…" Once he was able, the engineer climbed up into the truck and approached the sentry with a screw driver in his hand. The sentry beeped frantically and retracted it's tripod into it's turret housing in avoidance of the engineer's hands. "Hold still, dammit!" the engineer simply picked it up and turned it on it's side, all the while the sentry beeped and flailed – indicating an error. He unscrewed it's casing and found that all the circuitry inside was functioning normally – if not at a much higher rate of speed than usual. Nothing looked to be damaged.
"Well don't that juss beat all…" the engineer muttered to himself. "There must be some kinda data corruption…" he got out his PDA and hooked it up to the sentry's port. Green letters started crawling across the little screen immediately;
/error/ operator /error/ danger /error/ non combatant threat /error/ /neutralize target/ /error/ operator is not target /error/ unit under threat /error/ toaster is non-lethal unit/execute priority 674895 self defense protocol beta/ /error/ operator indicating threatno threat /error/ / directory diagnosis initiating/ stand by….
"Aw hell…" the engineer looked on in shock as the sentry's CPU self-diagnosed without his incentive. He watched in utter amazement as those lines ran across the screen, but was barely able to keep up with them. He caught a few key words that he had never entered, 'fright response' and 'ouch' that were some serious causes for concern, but he found himself just as helpless to stop this as he did a few moments ago when he thought he was under sniper fire. Then the scripts finally bottomed out.
…./primary directive override conducted at 47:62:93:1724 / in response terminal error/ target detected /insufficient target data/ insufficient behavior protocol/
"…" the engineer stood staring at this for a very long moment. He programed the thing to make a randomized choice in the case of logical conundrum, but he somehow never supposed what that kind of independence could lead to. Again, leaving that variable to chance was a matter of convenience. He had meant for his sentries to learn from experience and make adjustments to their behavior on their own, increasing efficiency. But now it was past learning and making adjustments for the purposes of tactical warfare. It had to compensate for a major gap in it's own protocols and make a randomized action from which it learned that it had flaws. It made a very understandable mistake and now it was frantically making attempts to learn from it. This was what it was programmed to do, but it's behavior was now very different from before – as though those pantomime behaviors were no longer just a mirrored communication tool. The whole point of building sentries was to keep the amount of confusion on the battlefield to a minimum. Now he might as well have had another set of fallible human beings wielding these lazer-sighted .50 caliber machine guns. In the old days he would have been fascinated – even excited by this development, but right now he was feeling a cold sweat coming on.
"Dagnabbit… I shoulda seen this comin'." he pulled out his handkerchief and mopped his brow. The sentry abruptly turned it's frontal sensors on him and gave him another double-beep.
/initiating human interface protocol 90981insufficient data/terminal protocol error/operator input needed/terminate unit?/operator input n/y?/…
The engineer for once in his life didn't know how to answer – he had been thinking about hitting the kill switch and wiping the hard drive anyway. But he hesitated now.
/terminal protocol error/operator input needed/terminate unit?n/y?/… The sentry repeated with another double beep.
The sentry's AI was convinced that it was logically aware of some kind of corruption. It was proposing that continued operation under this condition had a mathematically significant chance for further error and endangerment, and yet it was still asking for operator permission to end it's own existence. The engineer puzzled over why he was starting to tear up.
/operator unresponsive/terminal protocol error/unit will initiate self destruct sequence 67854 in 10 seconds/countdown initiated 10…9…
"NO dammit!" the engineer hit the N on the keypad and set the sentry back upright. He disconnected the PDA and looked the thing straight on through it's visual sensors. "You know what your job is, so do it!"
The sentry beeped twice and bobbed it's turret up and down in affirmation. Then the engineer watched it spin back around and snap back into it's duty before he finally let himself climb back down and retrace his steps in search of the soldier. Once on the ground he first gingerly examined the BLU spy's corpse and found that he had been wearing a wire – meaning that he had been to the 1700 meeting and recorded everything. He pulled the microfilm cassette and gave his sentry a whistle just before tossing it into the air like a clay pigeon. A single bullet fired from that sentry at pinpoint precision destroyed the tape in mid-air. Then the machine returned to scanning the area. Beautiful.
The engineer then looked around, trying to remember where he last saw the soldier before he checked in. Since he hadn't popped out of respawn, he was probably in a really bad spot. If the soldier was in a bad spot, this good ol' boy didn't have much in the way of back up with everyone else off the clock for the day. Without a second thought, the engineer grabbed his tools and climbed back up onto the truck, figuring that he should pump up that sentry for the long haul. If there were still BLUs sneaking around, the soldier wouldn't be the only one in a bad spot.
After some clumsy strapping in and searching for his keys, the engineer fired up the truck and peeled out for the open railway junction. He spent almost twenty minutes driving around looking between train cars and behind crates and around corners in the purple twilight. The place was very quiet, but the cricket sounds gave him some reassurance that there hadn't been much movement for some time. He finally came upon the soldier lying face down out in the open between the high fence and the shipping/receiving building. Blood was in a wide steak on the ground behind him and he still had his rocket launcher out like he had been trying to drag himself after the spy's bloody footprints before he finally succumbed. The engineer threw the truck into park and rushed out to him. He had been stabbed twice in the back; two deep holes that almost certainly punctured his lungs.
"Hey! You still with me, soldier?" the engineer dropped down and flipped the soldier onto his side. The soldier woke up with a start, but only had the strength to loudly gasp for air and involuntarily convulse like a fish out of water. His face was already bright red with his own blood, and still more spattered from his mouth as he forced it up and out of his chest.
"Spy!" He flailed for a second, supposedly trying to stand up. The engineer caught a glimpse of the soldier's eyes under the lip of his helmet – wide, distant, and unfocused.
"Easy there, partner! Ah got him for ya! Don't you worry!" the engineer tried to keep himself calm while he took a firmer grip on the soldier's wrist and draped the length of his arm over his shoulders. The soldier cried out in pain at the resistance, but eventually clasped his hands on the engineer's clothes for support. The man was now almost ice cold to the touch and he was shaking violently. He should have died with that much blood missing, but he had been stubbornly holding on this whole time.
"Quit hovering… m'FINE…" the soldier's voice gurgled.
"Don't waste yer energy tryin' ta act tough, mister! Stay with me now…" the engineer started to shift the soldier's body onto his back. The soldier grimaced and growled at every movement as the engineer stood up with a grunt, lifting that extra weight with his knees and rising to a wobbly stance. "Ah'll get you fixed up in a jiffy!" The engineer huffed and brought his load around to the dispenser and waited; in just a few that damn soldier would be yelling and giving him a hard time like he was supposed to.
As he healed, the soldier's chest cleared and each breath seemed to stretch out for more than a minute. The engineer's shirt was still soaked with his blood, but the clamminess faded as the holes closed and his fluids replenished. The engineer wanted to just stand there and keep feeling him recover, hoping that the soldier would tighten his grip, reassuring him of his strength returning. But the man just kept shaking. As soon as he was able to move his limbs and he took a grip on the engineer's shoulders, but just to push himself off.
"Hey now!" the engineer couldn't help but feel a little hurt as the soldier touched down, shoved off him and started to walk away. "What's eatin' you?"
"Don't concern yourself, civilian!" The soldier only picked his rocket launcher up off the ground and started running off in the direction of those bloody footprints. "There's a spy in our midst!"
"Dammit! Ah just told you Ah already got 'im!" The engineer started jogging after him. He caught up with him closer to the compound where the body of the BLU spy still lay in a pool of blood. "See?" the engineer huffed, silently resolving that he needed to quit smoking.
The soldier just stood over the spy's body for a long moment.
"I'd be lyin' if Ah said it was easy, but there you have it." The engineer straightened and patted the soldier on the back. "I'm juss glad Ah got back to you in time! What's say we go fer chow, huh?" he gave the soldier's arm a light tug as he turned to leave, but the soldier didn't budge.
"Whats the matter? Did Ah miss somethin'?" the engineer paused and tried to gauge the soldier's expression under that helmet. His jaw looked to have the usual stern scowl, and he was still staring a hole into that dead spy. He eventually broke from it to look around in all directions.
"There could be more of those scum-sucking french ticklers sneaking around." the soldier said finally and shouldered his rocket launcher and started marching back towards the outer fence. "I will not rest until each and every one of them is DEAD!"
The engineer wanted to stop him, but even with a complete report on the most miniscule mathematical improbability of a second spy sneaking past the alarm system, he had no argument against the justification of the soldier's paranoia. To the soldier, any chance of a threat – even if it was one in a billion - it was still a threat.
"Alrighty then." the engineer let out a sigh of bitter longing as he watched the soldier patrol the length of that fence. He was still exhausted, he just didn't feel right just leaving him, and at the same time, he couldn't just stand there or follow the man either. "Ah'll just uh… secure the other end Ah guess…" he started walking back to his truck.
–
It was a nice sunset despite the engineer's soreness. He settled into the cab of his truck to the sound of the sentry's gears turning on the roof above him, and the dull noises of the coming night. But he could not sleep or even relax for that matter. He knew for a flat fact that the place was as secure as it was going to get until the next morning, and it was getting boring and lonely out here keeping watch for phantoms. So he had himself a beer. Then another.
After an hour or two and the fourth or fifth beer on an empty stomach, the engineer gave into his boredom and general frustration. He exited his truck/fort and went after the soldier, who was still marching along the perimeter fence.
"Mind if Ah have a word with ya, soldier?" He asked and started keeping pace with him at his side.
"Keep your voice down! We are in FULL LOCKDOWN and we have to be on our toes!" The soldier snapped at him, but kept walking and scanning the darkness.
"Now ya see, that's what Ah've been meanin' to talk to you about…" the engineer ignored the order.
"Dammit man! What part of FULL LOCKDOWN do you not understand?! Any minute now, another one of those BLU scum piles could be right on top of us again! They could be anywhere! Get it together!" The soldier wasn't shaky anymore, and he was consciously steadying his breathing, but his face was ruddy and glistening with sweat like he had just finished a marathon.
"Ah did get it together soldier – there was just one spy hangin' around 'cuz he didn't run off with the others after we got done chasin' em out! But he's dead now and we're about as safe as a Swiss bank now that our alarm system is up and runnin'." he latched one hand onto the soldier's arm, stopping him momentarily. "Ah don't know if you noticed or not, but it's gettin' late and Ah juss can't stand idly by while you run yourself ragged for no good reason, mister!"
"What do you mean for no good reason?! Of course there's a good reason! War never takes a break, you cowarding Canadian!" the soldier tore free from him and shouted into his face.
The engineer punched the soldier square in the jaw and sent him reeling backwards into the fence.
"Don't you EVER call me that again, soldier!" the engineer barked and pointed at the soldier as he still leaned on the fence, pawing at his face and gawking at his assailant in disbelief. The engineer didn't expect that kind of surpised reaction from the soldier, but he had already hit him and now he had to carry through without apology if he wanted to keep his respect. "Ah'm as American as you are, you damn Yankee son of a bitch! And Ah sure as hell AIN'T no coward! Ah don't know if you could tell by that dead spy, or by the fact that Ah saved your sorry ass from bleedin' ta death back there, but Ah kin hold my own any day of the week with or without you marchin' around chasin' yer shadow all goddamn night!"
"So you got lucky once and now you think you can take on the chain of command?! You've got some balls! BRASS BALLS! Gimme your best shot, grease-monkey!" The soldier sprang off the fence and readied his fists.
"Well, if you insist…" The engineer again, really didn't want to keep going down this road, but he might as well; that damn soldier was never one to respond to sympathy or compassion anyway. "Lift yer lid and you just might see it comin', Rocket boy!" The engineer went for his extension cord first thing this time around.
"DEFEND YOURSELF!" The soldier swung first and the engineer leaned his upper half backward to avoid it. "Come here and take your lumps like a MAN, cupcake!" on his second swing, the soldier grabbed the engineer by the collar. The engineer instinctively threw his head forward and smashed his hard hat into the soldier – who had taken the same action; there was a loud crack and the engineer found himself dazed. The soldier kept that tight grip on his collar and punched him in the nose hard enough to knock him out of his own grip.
Engineer stumbled backwards, trying to stay up on his feet. For that moment, he noticed that his hard hat was now cracked down the middle and laying on the ground a few feet away. He tasted blood in his mouth and wiped his face on his forearm painfully. His nose was broken and bleeding. He looked back up at the soldier, who was more visibly winded, but still poised and ready for more with the lip of his helmet cocked slightly sideways – showing one angry blue eye burning into him.
"Had enough, sweetheart?" The soldier grinned.
"You really are stupid, ain't ya? Ah'm still standin' ain't Ah?" The engineer was now feeling a little woozy, but he stretched out a length of that yellow cord in both hands, calculating his next action. He noticed the soldier still standing there in front of him, catching his breath. "Say, ain't you hot in that coat?" he asked.
"Wut?" the soldier again was caught off guard.
"Yer lookin' mighty sweaty there, partner. You shoulda oughta take that coat off before you give yourself a stroke – don't worry, Ah'll wait a second for ya." the engineer smiled and started tying a lasso.
"Roger that." The soldier started unstrapping his belt without any indication of a second thought. "Thanks for the thought, Engie! But don't think even for a second that I'm going to go easy on you!" He was stuff huffing as he spoke, but sounded to be in better spirits.
"Ah'll keep that in mind…" The engineer tried not to laugh at how easy that was and watched the soldier unsheathe himself intently. He mused over how someone so fierce and so paranoid, could be so vulnerable to suggestion. This was a serious problem, but to the engineer, the consequences of taking advantage of the soldier's mental shortcomings were minimal in comparison to the consequences of leaving him to his own devices tonight – especially if he really was as exhausted as he was estimating.
As soon as that red overcoat hit the ground, the soldier shot forward again and tried to grab the engineer with both hands. The engineer skillfully ducked and socked him in the gut as hard as he could. The blow knocked the wind right out of the taller man and he doubled over in pain, giving the engineer just the chance he needed to toss a loop of that cord around him and pull it tight.
"GAA! Dammit! What's the big idea?!" The soldier struggled against him, but his arms were now pinned to his sides. So he started pulling away, but he couldn't get much farther than a few inches.
"Ah TOLD you Ah couldn't stand idly by and let you run yourself ragged, mister!" The engineer dug his heels in and let himself chuckle at his accomplishment. He reeled in the cord, pulling his captive back towards him. "If anybody's gonna be runnin' you ragged, it's gonna be me!" he wasted no time tying a knot and going for one of the soldier's wrists.
"You're going to have to do better than this, private cowboy!" The soldier spun around, yanking the engineer along with him, but his attempt to throw him was unsuccessful. "If you think you can get between me and my duty, you are very wrong!"
"Ah ain't tryin' ta come between nothin', soldier boy! Ah'm just wranglin' one a' the steers that got loose…" By now the engineer was tugging on that wrist, trying to bend it behind the soldier's back and lash it into that knot around his arms. In the process he pulled the soldier off balance and finally brought him down to the ground. But the soldier continued to twist and turn until the engineer climbed onto his back, forcing his body to flatten face down. "Hold still dammit!" he finally got hold of the soldier's other arm and looped that cable around it as well.
"YOU ARE OUT OF LINE, PRIVATE!" The soldier shouted and thrashed, but ran out of steam after just a few seconds and lay there panting under the weight of the engineer. "I AM YOUR COMMANDING OFFICER AND YOU WILL UNTIE ME RIGHT THIS INSTANT! DO YOU HEAR ME?!"
"We'll see…" The engineer decided that he ought to check the integrity of those knots before he got too absorbed in straddling the soldier's back. He felt like he was worn down enough, but past experience dictated that the engineer could never be too careful. He ran his hands along the soldier's sides, causing him to shudder and writhe underneath him. Still as ticklish as ever.
"WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, PRIVATE COWBOY?! I DID NOT GIVE YOU CLEARANCE FOR THAT!" The soldier squirmed and gnashed his teeth, twisting his head around to keep his very red and sweaty face out of the dirt and spit his angry retort at the man on his back. His voice lowered noticably as he visibly tried to keep himself from crying. "THIS IN AN ACT OF INSURRECTION AND IS HIGHLY UNACCEPTABLE CONDUCT IN MY UNIT! YOU ARE NOW IN A WORLD OF SHIT! AS SOON AS YOU UNTIE ME, I WILL SHOW YOU THE MEANING OF PAIN, PRIVATE COWBOY!"
"Oh my! Ah better watch it! Ah tell you what - you've got me sweatin' like a whore in church!" The engineer chuckled and kept feeling along the taught length of the soldier's shaking torso, then back down towards his waist, his hands just below the reach of the soldier's desperately grasping and clawing fingers. He had such a distinct triangular shape to him in the way he tapered from an almost three foot shoulder span to that 28in waist (according to the tag sticking up in the back of his pants). His skin was very wet with sweat and there was so much heat radiating off of him, it were as though he had literally run his body into a burn out. But the spirit was clearly still willing.
"Then I will untie myself! THEN you'll be sorry! Just you wait!" the soldier growled and tried to pull his legs under his body, but by now he was too weak to do much more than grunt and kick around in the dirt until the engineer finally gave in and casually dismounted him.
"Take all the time you need, partner." The engineer just stood over him and tried to stop laughing.
Even as the soldier was able to get his knees under, he couldn't quite find the strength to teeter himself upright without the use of his arms, which actually seemed to be just the right weight to keep him down. He took a moment to rest on his knees, his chest and chin still anchored to the ground, and catch his breath after only a few seconds of struggle.
"You are juss too ornery for your own good, boy!" The engineer finally took pity on the soldier and bent down to help him up.
"Whadda YOU know?!" the soldier snarled as the engineer took him by the elbow and hoisted him up to his feet. He was heavier than the engineer expected, but the soldier wobbled upright and clumsily planted himself with his assistance.
"Ah know Ah worry 'bout you sometimes." The engineer patted the soldier on the shoulder as soon as he was up on his own. The soldier looked back at him at that last statement.
"What?!" The soldier demanded.
"Ah said Ah worry 'bout you sometimes!" the engineer repeated himself, but with a much sterner tone. "Ah mean -"
"Are you my WIFE, private cowboy?!"
"Now what in tar-nation is THAT supposed to -?"
"BECAUSE I SURE AS HELL DON'T REMEMBER MARRYING YOU! It is every soldier's duty to throw down his life for the sake of his mission - !"
"Our mission is OVER for the day, ya dumb DICK!" The engineer matched the soldier's volume and slapped the helmet right off his head. The soldier was obviously shocked and stood there frozen, gawking dumbly at the engineer. "Dagnabbit, Ah just wanted you to stop marchin' up and down that goddamn fence fer FIVE cotton-pickin' minutes so … we could… ya know…" he trailed off and took a quick look around t o make sure that there weren't any open windows or cameras pointing their way.
"Know what?" the soldier hardly moved, but his brow furrowed and his eyes raced back and forth from the engineer, then where the engineer was looking, then back to the engineer.
"You know… uh… relieve some tension?" The engineer pulled off his goggles, wanting to be absolutely sure that no one was watching – especially that highly impressionable sentry over there.
"I still don't get …" the soldier puzzled until the engineer finally yanked his head down and planted a hungry kiss on his lips. After a second or two of shock, the soldier started leaning into it. He even pushed a soft groan of enjoyment through his nose. The heat of his skin and his breath, the gruff sound in his throat, and the tickling brush of his stubble instantly burned away any thought or hesitation that remained in the engineer, who took a good hold of that extension cord and started pulling the soldier toward the nearest building.
–
The engineer wrangled the soldier through an unlocked maintenance door and into a boiler room, which was dimly lit with a few humming yellow bulbs in key corners of the room.
"Five minutes, huh?" The soldier huffed, grinning ferally at him. "Last night I had you crying for your mama in less than two!"
"Yep." The engineer couldn't deny that. "Ah reckon you know your way around a regulation fuck, don't ya." He gave the soldier a stern push inside, then turned briefly to lock the door behind them.
"Of course I do! If you didn't SKIP THE DRAFT you would also understand how to execute the standard regulation fuck!" the soldier spun around and raised his voice only to be shoved back against a wall.
"Dumber than dog shit, ain't ya?" The engineer chuckled as he pressed his weight on the other man's shoulders with both hands.
"YOU ARE WAY OUT OF LINE, PRIVATE COWBOY!" The soldier glowered back at him, his face now glowing red. "Back when I was in the s… service… we…" the soldier's voice trailed off as the engineer moved in and gave him a peck on the cheek, then another on the neck while his hands started sneaking down the front of his body. His shirt was sopping wet from his sweating, but the engineer didn't care – he had worked himself into a stupor and fought this man down for what felt like hours for this. He rested his head on one of those wide shoulders for a moment, watching the soldier watch him – his eyes followed the engineer's hand down, then he leaned his head back against the wall and fixed his gaze at the ceiling as soon as he noticed that he was being watched.
"We knew where the line was … and…" The soldier seemed to be more confused than anything else. But the engineer was certain that if the soldier didn't want this to happen, there was no doubt in his mind that he would have torn free and beaten him to within an inch of his life by now. He had faith in his own knots, but he didn't exactly see the soldier struggling any more either. He kept moving his hands down the soldier's front, groping that thick leathery musculature the whole way. The soldier's lecture had fallen silent, but the sound of his breathing was still heavy in the engineer's ears. He was just on the cusp of letting out more, but the engineer wanted it now. He yanked that wet t-shirt out from being tucked under the soldier's belt and pulled it up past his ribs and was forced to leave it bunched just under the soldier's bound arms. Once exposed, the soldier sucked in a lungfull of air for the sudden contact with the cool air.
The soldier's bare chest and stomach had a deceptively soft look to them in this flat yellow lighting; his collar bones and his sternum were like concrete just below the surface of his damp skin, which was now contracting in reaction to this exposure. The engineer instinctively hugged the soldier snugly, wrapping one arm around his taught middle and pressing the better half of his upper body into his chest, which by now was heaving from his nervous breathing. The soldier's fiberous pecs felt like a fine leather couch to the engineer, and so he nestled into it, loosing himself in the feel of it.
He started his free hand down that path of soft dark hairs along the expanse of the soldier's belly again; he couldn't see that nervously twitching six pack for that layer of insulating fat, but he could certainly feel it just under the surface. The engineer wanted to just dive right down into the soldier's pants, but that belt needed to be loosened first, and jamming his relatively cold hands down upon the man's delicates would be too much of a shock besides. The answer – build up some friction first thing; the engineer's hand skipped down a bit and started working its way back up along the soldier's inside leg.
The hard outline of the soldier's legs trembled under the rough fabric of his slacks. His body was hard all over thanks to his constant activity and compulsive workout routine, but he was still vulnerable to this kind of gentle teasing. Especially around that soft region between his legs; the soldier's package seemed to fit right in the palm of the engineer's wandering hand and started pulsing under the pressure.
"Gahh..!" The soldier grimaced, but practically melted into the engineer's hands. His torso arched outward and he became weak in the knees as the shorter man steadily kneaded his crotch through his pants. The engineer reached his other arm further around the soldier's waist and, just for good measure, he took a firm grip on his buttocks. That was almost enough by itself; the engineer knew how tight the soldier was and feeling the man's muscles tense in surprise under the grip of his hand made him think even harder about how it would feel if he let him have more.
"You like that, huh?" He mused and continued to stroke the soldier's steadily rising arousal, all the while listening to his pounding heart and that pitiful groan that was finally leaking out of his chest. The resonance could be felt throughout his body.
"I don't know what you're talking about…" The soldier huffed, his shoulders and head still leaning flat against the wall and his eyes fixed angrily up at the ceiling.
"How 'bout this?." The engineer, glancing upward, knew that the soldier was lying through his teeth, and took it as a challenge. He took a moment to unzip the soldier's fly, and then shoved his hand right in.
"DAA!" The soldier yelped and bucked involuntarily at the skin contact. His whole body stiffened in surprise, but relaxed as the engineer started up again. "DAMMIT…Christ almighty… as soon as I can get out of this…"
"You ain't getting' outta this one." The engineer grinned. "Not till Ah'm done with ya." He gave the soldier's erection a good squeeze, causing it to pulse back even harder and start issuing some pre-cum. "An' by then you won't be in any shape to do much about it, soldier boy. That is – if you can even last that long…"
The soldier winced and almost collapsed as blood rushed out of his head. "Give me your best shot, MAGGOT!" He growled and tried to shake it off. "You'll never outlast me! Not in a million ye—ahhh… hahhh! What are you doing back there?!"
"Easy now. If you keep squirmin, Ah might have to bend you over!" The engineer had moved his other hand down between the soldier's glutes and was now messaging him through the seat of his pants. It was such a warm, snug spot back there. "Hell, since Ah got you all tied up, Ah might just do that anyway…" He paused to start unbuckling the soldier's belt.
"Oh you're really in for it now! I will come down on you with the force of a -"
"Shut up." the engineer pulled the soldier's pants down to his knees, then popped off the straps of his coveralls. "You don't want me to have to stick my cock in your mouth now, do ya?"
"Go ahead and try it!" the soldier gnashed his teeth. The engineer paused, now having seconds thoughts at the sight of them.
"Ah don't care too much for your tone, mister." the engineer saved his position and grabbed the soldier's upper arms and spun him around. "Ah was gonna go easy on you, but you ain't givin' me much option." he pushed him flat against the wall.
"Don't even TRY to get my hopes up, you sniveling fruit basket!" The soldier spat back at him. "Your ass will have to be escorted from the bank for writing THAT check! You are pathetic!" He was still showing his war face. It didn't matter if he actually was tired, or angry, or scared. He would keep this up until he literally had nothing left. That was his way; give in and you die, hesitate and you die, show any shred of emotion outside of hatred and you die. His body was rock hard and his mind was even harder. It was probably for the best that they hadn't learned one another's names, and yet the engineer wanted every part of this man. Here he was, pressed against the wall and presenting himself – his hands tied behind his back, clenched in a pair of white-knuckled fists and the bare skin on his perfectly toned back, buttocks and legs beckoning him. But he was still fighting him and demanding nothing less than the most severe punishment for his unbecoming position of surrender. It dawned on the engineer that he really had his work cut out for him; he now had to give this man the hardest pounding he could give, just to ensure his fevered ego the satisfaction of having fought his hardest to prevent it.
The engineer spread both hands around either side of the soldier's hips and suddenly found himself gawking at his scarred back again. His body was so solid and durable only because of how much hurt had been hammered into it. The weight of the engineer's tool belt pulled this pants down quickly, slamming into the concrete with a thud and a clank, but he hesitated. That nagging guilt tugged at him, and he began to hate himself again for pulling the soldier down like this – what he thought was a genuine concern for the man's well-being seemed like just another flimsy justification to what most outside observers would amount to rape. The rape of an exhausted and incapacitated veteran to top it all off.
"TODAY MAGGOT! DO I HAVE TO COME BACK THERE AND SHOW YOU HOW IT'S DONE?!" The soldier demanded.
"HELL NO!" the engineer matched the soldier's volume, slipped off his insulated glove and whipped the soldier hard across the back with it.
The soldier cried out in pain and nearly folded. The engineer's heart skipped a beat, but he couldn't back down now.
"Ah know exactly what the hell Ah'm doin', ya dumb jarhead son of a bitch!" he hit him again, this time across the buttocks. "You got that?!"
The soldier jerked himself away at the stinging impact, but put himself back and readied for another like a good soldier would.
"Y-Yes SIR!" The soldier shouted back, possibly to have that pained scream come out as forceful and manly words intstead.
"Now, do you wanna get fucked fast, or do ya wanna get fucked right?!" the engineer kept his volume up, trying his damnedest to keep his voice steady. Then he waited for the soldier to reply. The soldier only struggled to catch his breath and stay on his feet; leaning heavily on the wall by his chest and the side of his head, and his whole face still red and clenched in pain. Then finally, he cleared his throat, swallowed, and opened his eyes, although he didn't look at the engineer's face, so much as downward in his general direction.
"I want to get fucked right, sir." his voice came out quiet and halting slightly from his exhaustion.
"What was that?" the engineer didn't believe his ears.
"SIR." The soldier said louder and much steadier than before. He lifted his head up and took in another breath. "I said I would like to get fucked right, sir." that sentence followed by a relenting snort.
"That's what the hell Ah thought!" The engineer gave the soldier another satisfactory slap across the ass, mainly to cover the choking in his throat. The soldier only grunted from the sting this time, having been expecting it.
"Now juss relax an' let me do that for ya, ya hear?" It took a lot for the engineer to keep himself from crying and he couldn't quite place the reason why. He threw down his glove and regained his firm two-handed grip on the soldier's hips and positioned him manually without giving himself the chance to clear his head.
"Yes, sir." The soldier looked away, all expression fading from his face.
The engineer took a moment to peel off his shirt and throw it down, then pull down his briefs just enough. He thought that that scare had effectively killed his erection, but it was still there, strangley enough. No sense in wasting time thinking; he grabbed the soldier's red hams in both hands and thrust himself between them. The soldier groaned under him, but did not cry out. His entire body clenched and shook from the pain and the shock of it, but he pushed back against the engineer as he started picking up a rythmic thrusting. His bound hands opened and reached pleadingly, though still pinned to his back. Those baby blues darted from the floor, up to the engineer's face, then away again as soon as contact was made. He was strangely free from anger, but still glinting that wild, fearful and hungry look.
"You're alright, soldier." The engineer smiled and kept pumping in and out of him. The soldier responded with a quiet hiss and bit his lip to a gentle rub on his lower back where that red mark was now starting to rise up a little, but he was still shaking violently. "It's only me." Eventually the engineer let the soldier have one of his hands, trying to console himself for having hit him so hard so many times. And for having liked it the pain that he had caused.
"Thank you, sir." The soldier grabbed and held on tightly as soon as the engineer's fingers were interlocked with his. His eyes started welling up and so he turned away and clenched them shut immediately.
"Aw, don't start cryin' on me now!" the engineer almost lost control again, but he couldn't let himself falter now. He leaned forward and wrapped his free hand around the soldier as tightly as he could.
"Understood, sir." The soldier choked, but tried to shake it off. He was unsuccessful in that although he was not actually crying, he couldn't stop the tears from running.
"Buck up, soldier! You're killin' me with them waterworks!" The engineer understood that he was trying, and that just made it that much more emotional for him. He wanted to stop and just hold him, but after all those promising threats he made, the soldier undoubtedly would not let him live it down if he did. So he pushed himself into the soldier as far as he could and paused, hoping that the swelling sensation of this union would distract them from all that emotional baggage.
"Guhhh… YES SIR!" The soldier obviously had never been penetrated so deeply before; he gaped and froze, but then snarled back with a strange, but distinctly masculine resolve. The engineer lost himself in the heat and the compression of his body; he didn't have to hear the man's heartbeat or his voice when he could now feel it coursing through him. He felt the soldier's inner world as well as his inner workings; he hugged the soldier tightly, chasing away any fears that were left. It was the kind of intimacy that the engineer had been aching for all day – maybe even longer.
"That's more like it!" He flopped his head down on the soldier's back and absently moved his pelvis a few times in him, each time getting whimpers that eventually turned into deep moans as he started palming his belly, then his very rigid and dripping erection. He then, after some effort, yanked his hand out of the soldier's grip and threw it around him. The soldier instinctively tried to tear free of his restraints and grab the engineer back, but eventually tired and succumbed to some helpless squirming as the engineer cupped his balls and slowly spread that slippery pre-cum along the length of his penis, making it throb and twitch.
The engineer had already resolved to hold himself off until after he had finished the soldier, but the way that the soldier's body pleaded him was too much. Without the use of his arms, the soldier was now forced to do no more than take what the engineer had to give; he swayed his back for him and he kept trying to twist around and put his arms around him, but couldn't. His angry grunts and groans were now starting to sound more and more like the hungry whines of an animal, then grew more ecstatic as the engineer's hands elevated him. He lowered his upper half, bending into the engineer and picking up some enthusiastic thrusting of his own. The feeling was so intense that the engineer didn't even want to know if he had already gone off in the soldier until he had successfully finished the job on him. He kept working his hands until the soldier's pelvis abrubtly shot forward in a few powerful final thrusts and he shouted something unintelligable at the wall. The engineer's body twitched a few times in the aftermath of the soldier's climax, having already been emptied, but still getting a second little blank load in. It was almost painful to pull out.
"That'll do, soldier." The engineer stood up straight and gave a sloppy salute, but immediately had to steady himself on the soldier, who was now silent and leaning flat on the wall. He patted him on the shoulder, well aware that he was out – even drooling a little this time. "Shoot… burned to the wick…" the engineer wiped the sweat from his brow and let himself have a moment of pride in his work. Then he started pulling his pants up, knowing that at some point, he was going to have to defend himself.
"Thankyou sir, may I have another, sir…" the soldier snorted, still apparently unconcious.
"Ah juss don't know which of us is worse, mister; me for fuckin' ya or you fer likin' it!" the engineer smiled and shook his head. He couldn't stand to leave the soldier like this, so with a pained grunt, the the engineer bent down and pulled up the soldier's pants to preserve what little dignity he had left.
"You're the one who's hovering, Sally!" The soldier woke up at some point during the dressing process and was now looking the engineer straight in the face while he was adjusting his belt at his waist.
"Ya know, Ah was gonna cut you loose juss now, but if that's the way it's gonna be, Ah'm havin' some second thoughts, mister."
"WELL La dee DA! … I'm sorry, please untie me."
"One thing at a time." The engineer tugged the two ends of the soldier's belt together, but found that he couldn't see what he was doing very well. "Stand up straight, will ya?"
"Roger." The soldier straightened and even backed away from the wall so that the engineer could fasten his belt for him. As soon as he was done, the taller man pivoted around so that he could untie his arms.
Once the knots were loose enough, the soldier pulled his arms away in a hurry, stretched his neck and back, rubbed his wrists and staggered around for a few seconds trying to regain his bearings. The engineer watched him serenely, but decided to keep his hands to himself, having learned his lesson more than once before. He busied himself brushing off his shirt and wiping sweat off his face with his sleeve in a rushed haze until he heard the soldier's voice again and looked up.
"Was that satisfactory?" The soldier turned to face the engineer with his back straight and his shoulders back, even with those droopy eyelids and the rasp in his throat he was looking none the worse for wear.
"Yesser." The engineer smiled and leaned back with his hands resting casually on his hips. "Ah recon you took a hefty weight off me!"
"THEN PULL YOUR PANTS UP AND GET YOUR SORRY ASS BACK OUT THERE, MAGGOT!" The soldier shouted and nearly winded himself in the process.
"Y-YES sir!" the engineer yelped in suprise and quickly bent down without a second thought. He had gotten his breifs back up and hooked his extention cord back to his belt, but had forgotten completely about strapping his overalls back up.
"Cover your shame on the double! What kind of operation do you think we're running here, private cowboy?!"
"Ah beg yer pardon." The engineer chuckled. Then he noticed something himself and grinned even wider. "Oh – speakin' a which, ya might oughta shut yer barn door before ya git back out on patrol there, mister. Hyuk, Ah know Ah wouldn't wanna get caught out'n the open like that, Ah tell you what! "
"…" the soldier took a moment to realize that the engineer was refering to his open fly. And when he did, his face turned beet red. "Don't patronize me!" he quickly zipped up, trying to subdue heavy breaths through his nose. It appeared to be a struggle to even make his hands move – his whole upper body was limp from the strain. The engineer wanted to move in and help him, but he was certain of backlash if he tried.
"Always a pleasure to be of service." As soon as he was ready, the soldier abrubtly saluted with a click of his heels. He then spun around and marched for the door, struggled for a few angry seconds with the latch, but was soon outside again. He paused midstep in the open doorway and glared dissapprovingly at the engineer.
"What are you waiting for, private?!" He barked at half volume.
"Don't strain yerself, Ah'm comin'." The engineer's smile faded into a grunt as he started walking. He hadn't noticed that the whole of his lower body, particularly around the inner thigh was burning with fatique.
"You're one to talk! You're wobbling like jello, private cowboy!" The soldier's steadily rising volume must have been some indication of his recovery. With each hurtful word he seemed to straighten up like a 6 foot wind up toy. "You should be thankful that I took pity and let you have your way with me this time! You'd be lucky to survive a light petting from me!" by now he was standing straight and pointing a boastful thumb into his confidently jutting chest.
"Ah 'preciate the offer, partner. But Ah reckon I'm done for the night." The engineer smiled again and palmed the soldier's shoulder.
"Very well! The next time I see you I expect that you will be fully rested and ready for combat!" The soldier slapped the engineer on the back almost hard enough to knock him over. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must return to my duty!"
"Alrighty then." The engineer reeled but was able to stabilize himself quickly. By the time he looked back up, the soldier had already marched more than a yard away, set on recovering his equipment and returning to sentry duty. He watched him for a second, pondering why he still felt the need to go after him.
"Hey if you need anything, you just holler, ya hear?" he called out to the soldier's back.
"Roger that." The soldier turned back briefly as he donned his helmet.
"Alrighty." The engineer replied almost out of compulsion. "Ah suppose Ah'll juss be on mah way then…" He started staggering off on his own, searching haphazardly for a more proper entrance to the compound.