Steven and Samoht are waiting at the fence. Her majesty the Administrator had announced earlier that those two are the ones to fight for this month, Steven for BLU and Samoht for RED. Lucien cannot help but be worried for them especially. They have no weapons of their own except for their method of eating, but they have yet to see that in action. Dear god, please let them live... The vehicles arrive moments later; the one driving to BLU has backed up towards the gate. Steven looks at Samoht and squeezes his shoulder. The Texan is keeping his head down, keeping his face away from everyone as much as possible, but the squeeze is reassuring. Steven then departs into the truck and Samoht in his own vehicle soon after. Lucien, Jack, and Billy remain alone in the cave, outnumbered five-to-three by the graves in the back. That number could change to either seven-to-three or stay as five-to-five when Steven and Samoht return. If they return. No, they will return. Lucien looks over at Billy again as he remembers the events of last month and is glad to see him alive and healthy. This brings him relief and restores his hope of survival.
Moments later Steven and Samoht are revealed on the screen, both unarmed men against nine heavily armed mercenaries each. Lucien lights up a cigarette, almost too quickly that he fumbles with the stick and lighter. "Easy, mate," Jack mumbles and pats Lucien's shoulder. The Frenchman takes a breath to calm down, then successfully lights up his cigarette. The battles begin and Lucien's eyes dart from side to side rather quickly. Jack and Billy are calmer than him, their eyes only occasionally glancing from one side of the screen to the other. Samoht is keeping away from the REDs, not willing to fight or show his face to these strangers. So far he has yet to be found, but Lucien hopes he will not make the same mistake as Heinrich. Steven however is actively seeking out the enemy team, slithering quickly along the ground, walls, and even the ceilings. Thankfully the clicking and cracking cannot be heard as easily through the speakers. He crawls along the walls, confusing the team, then drops down on his first victim: the Medic. The doctor is torn apart before he is eaten alive and makes it Lucien cringe. At his side he can hear Jack groan and mumble, "Lucky bloke..." Lucky? With the exception of Samoht, Lucien's teammates have turned into blood-thirsty monsters. But... they are still his team, and only Redmond is to blame for changing who they are.
Lucien turns his eyes away from Steven's camera and focuses on Samoht. He has been cornered by a Heavy and Medic, but the Übercharge is not there yet. Suddenly the former Engineer does something to make Lucien sick to his stomach. Seeing no other option but to fight, Samoht approaches the pair and suddenly his mouth stretches open incredibly wide and swallows the frightened Medic whole. Lucien is in such a shock that the cigarette slips out from his parted lips as he stares at the sight on the screen. The Heavy is consumed only seconds later and eventually it is shown that Samoht can shoot the bodies out of his mouth to attack the rest of the team. Slowly Lucien sits down and reaches for his dropped cigarette. He brushes off anything that could have jumped on it during its time on the floor, then continues smoking it. He will not allow one stick of cancer to go to waste like that. His eyes stay off the screen for a moment, unwilling to watch his two teammates eat the other teams like a casual dinner, but eventually he decides to look up again and is relieved to see the feast has ended and both Steven and Samoht are alive. When they return later that day, both coming from separate trucks, Billy is jumping all around them and laughing happily. Steven is proud of himself and Lucien can almost see the former Soldier in him, then he remembers the blood all around his mouth and clothes and he tries not to picture the digesting organs in the man's stomach. Unlike Steven, Samoht is only bloody where he had been shot and is thankfully not too messy. Jack praises both of them and tells Steven of his envy towards tasting blood. The former Soldier only gives his wide smile while Samoht walks off. Lucien stops him with a hand to his shoulder. He looks at the smaller man directly into his eyes and only his eyes, refusing to even glance anywhere else on his face. Lucien smiles at his teammate and pats his shoulder. It is almost impossible to tell, but judging from the muscles' movements, Lucien thinks Samoht might have smiled back.
The days go on as they usually do, this time much happier than they have been since the team had first arrived and began this event. They have survived; finally no one had to die this month. Lucien is a mix of emotions, happy to have not lost more teammates, but as he tries to figure out how to escape this horror he grows frustrated with himself. Then he remembers that he and Jack are next to fight and he becomes anxious. The Australian feels differently about their upcoming fight. In fact he is jittery with excitement and incredibly impatient. A couple times Lucien had found Jack cutting his own fingers just so he can taste some kind of blood and had to make him stop before he decided to actually cut them off for the thrill of it. The days continued to pass and soon the day arrived. The five mercenaries were awakened by the Administrator at the usual early morning hour to see her pleased expression up on the screen.
"Good morning, gentlemen. I am still very pleased with last month's event and I hope today will be just as interesting." She pauses for a moment to smirk directly at Lucien, then continues, "I'm sure it will be interesting with you two, but I have a proposal for you, Lucien Bouvier. According to Redmond you are the only one who turned out to be the perfect "super being". You can't rejoin your team, but you can leave right now and spare yourself of this. You have a home to return to, don't you? Perhaps there's a special person you wish to see again?"
The last question leaves Lucien silent as Isabelle immediately enters his mind. Is she seriously offering him this freedom? He can only assume she is sincere after discovering he had been spared of the tracking chip. Would he get one installed if he were to decline? Lucien reaches to an inner pocket of his jacket, but remembers only his cigarette case is tucked away with only a few sticks inside. The picture he is looking for is back in his old room, possibly thrown away in the garbage by now and the thought stings his heart.
"Yer not seriously thinkin' about this, are ya?" Jack interrupts his thoughts with a frown. "This is an easy answer, Luc! Take th' offer an' get out 'a 'ere!"
"Non," he answers softly, removing his hand from his jacket and looking up at the Administrator straight in the eye. "I will not abandon my team."
"Are ya crazy, Luc?! Oi thought ya had a girl back at home!" Jack yells at him.
"I do, Jack. She is my world, but I will not leave you all in a place like zhis. I am sure she would understand," Lucien explains to him. Jack does not bother to argue.
"That's what I thought. In that case, you will fight Builders League United. Christian Brutal Sniper will fight Reliable Excavation Demolition. Make this fight a good one," the Administrator says with a smirk, then the screen turns black. Lucien looks at Jack, but the Australian walks right past him and towards the fence. He frowns and follows.
"Tell me you are not mad at me, Jack."
"Why th' bloody 'ell are you not takin' these chances at freedom, Luc? You even told me yerself you were gonna put away th' mask an' go back to yer li'l girl someday."
"Zhat was for when zhe war was going to end and we were all going home. I am not going to leave while zhese events are happening."
"Then yer stickin' around fer a real long toime, Luc. We're here 'til we die, remember?"
"Zhen I will die wizh you or we will escape togezher."
Jack does not reply. He observes Lucien for a moment or two, then finally just smiles. Lucien returns it. When the vehicles arrive, Lucien steps up to the fence first and waits for the doors to open. He notices the men holding those syringes again and can only assume it is because he does not have a chip like the rest of his team. "Have fun, Luc. See ya when we get back," the former Sniper says with a smirk. "Oui," is the former Spy's short reply, returning the smirk before he steps into the back of the vehicle. He takes a seat as the door closes, then the truck slowly moves forward. Now it is time to play the waiting game. To help pass the time Lucien pulls his cigarette case out from his jacket. Just before he lights up a stick he notices the small barred window across from him. He slips the case back in his jacket as he stands to move across to the other bench. There is nothing but dry lands and a few peaks as they drive, the sun slowly rising higher and higher to cast its light on the land. He recognizes some of these landscapes and feels that he recognizes the road as well, but he is not sure. It is not until they pass the base in Teufort that Lucien completely recognizes where they are and realizes how close the base is from where they are being held. Lucien saves this information in the back of his mind for now and continues watching the land as they pass by.
A little over half an hour goes by when the vehicle finally slows to a stop, then a few moments later is when the door opens and the men are there with their syringes and tranquilizers. Lucien stands, but he is stopped and told to remove his jacket for the fight. They explain to him that the reason is because of his perfection and lack of difference from the current Spies, thus it would create confusion and unnecessary friendly fire. He is, however, allowed to keep his weapons with him of course and was assured his jacket would return untouched if he won the battle, so he does not complain. The jacket is removed and leaves him in a casual wear of a white dress shirt and a vest. Lucien is escorted to what looks like an abandoned respawn room of RED, but he does not recognize it. The wooden walls are weak with age and the resupply cabinet is dusty and empty. What was once a strong battleground for past teams now has the potential of being his grave, but he will not allow that. The men leave Lucien alone in the room, moments before he begins to hear that she-devil's cold voice over the speakers. The countdown begins, then the sirens signal the start of the battle. Lucien checks his knife and then his gun. He only has six bullets already loaded and is left without any other ammo. He does not have any disguises, his cloaking watch, or a sapper any longer. It is him versus nine mercenaries, his old enemies, and he ponders how the battle will turn out.
Lucien moves quickly and quietly around abandoned farm houses, his main targets already prioritized: the Engineer and the Medic. He seeks out the Texan and finds him beginning to build a sentry in a corner by their starting area. The Demoman has laid sticky bombs around the area and close by are the Heavy and Medic pair, the medi gun trained on the large Russian and slowly building up an Über. This is going to be hell, but he has to move fast before it is too late. Lucien uses two bullets to destroy the small sentry gun, then he slips back behind the farm house and across to the other side before the team could see him. He can already hear the offensive three hurrying to his area, but they are not his priority. He moves faster, a speed that he has never run at before, and in seconds he slips behind the Medic to land a strong backstab. The German's scream brings everyone's attention and the Heavy begins to fire angrily at him. Lucien manages to dodge the bullets, moving quickly behind the Russian to land another stab. Two down and seven to go, but he has been spotted. Rockets, bombs, and bullets fly in his direction and he does his best to avoid them, but through it all he can hear the Engineer rebuilding his sentry. He cannot let it get to the second level or he will be in trouble.
Lucien weaves through the barrage of bullets and rockets, finding himself to be incredibly light on his feet. Of course he cannot dodge every bullet, but the wounds barely faze him. He adds another two bullets to destroy the sentry once more and adds a third to the Engineer's forehead. Three down, six remain, and only one bullet is left in the gun. At least the top two priorities are out of the way; they were his main worries. Lucien runs away from the team, but he can hear the Scout hot on his trail. It will be the biggest pain in the world to try to land a backstab on him, though he wonders if he would succeed now that he is just as fast as the boy, maybe even faster. First he must be rid of the ones with the bigger guns. No, scratch that; he changes his priority after just barely escaping the fire from that monster. He may regret this later, but as he is running from the Pyro he turns and plants his last bullet between its eyes. He is happy to find the one shot has sent the thing to the ground, but now he is without a gun. He tucks the gun away and holds his balisong tight in his hand as he goes after the others, ignoring the Scout for now. He weaves through the rockets, his eyes focused on the Soldier, and before the American can jump away he thrusts the knife into his chest, then quickly circles around to stab his back. Five down, four left.
Lucien's next target is the Scotsman, but he finds himself in a complicated position. The Demoman has sticky bombs around him and the Scout is standing by within the boundary. The Sniper is not too far away, hiding in one of the farms and carefully he is observing the area with those all-seeing eyes. Without his gun, disguises or cloak, he may have to sacrifice a bit if he wants to pass those bombs. First he changes priority to the Sniper and sneaks towards his hideout. The bushman is easy to take care of, but before anything he throws his hand over the Sniper's mouth before landing the backstab. His scream is muffled to the others and he allows the body to drop to the floor. Lucien eyes the Demoman and thinks of what to do with him. Could he startle the Scotsman into activating the bombs and clear the way? Or could he find a way to distract him and move in without harm? Both are effective, but the question is how to execute the plan. Then he remembers the Sniper on the floor. With his newfound strength, Lucien lifts the dead weight off the ground and throws him out the window at the two. He sails past the Scout and aims a direct hit at the Demoman, knocking him off his feet. Lucien hops out the window and runs quickly within the boundaries. Just as the Demoman pushes the body off himself and gets back on his feet, Lucien moves behind him with a strong backstab. The Scout panics and runs, but Lucien only smirks and chases after him. Surprisingly, but expectantly, he finds himself catching up easily with the Scout. As the boy looks back and sees how close his pursuer is, he trips over himself in shock and is quickly stabbed. One man remains.
Lucien walks around slowly, flipping his knife around between his fingers, listening carefully for the footsteps around him. He hears them draw near, from behind of course, and waits for the right moment. The footsteps follow right behind him and he turns quickly, grabbing the arm of his counterpart's replacement and twisting him around in a lock. He leans close to the man's ear and mumbles, "Zhis is for your predecessor." The balisong is thrust deep into the enemy's back, then after a moment he removes his knife and drops the man to the floor. He hears the Announcer congratulate him and is told to return back to the abandoned respawn room. Lucien does as he is told and soon enough he is back in the truck and on his way back to the cave. Though he is happy to have his jacket returned to him, he does not put it back on. Instead he would rather try to wash the blood away before dirtying the only clean piece of his suit. Eventually he arrives "home" and is greeted by his three teammates as he steps out of the vehicle. He watches it drive away, but becomes concerned when he does not see the second vehicle.
"Where is Jack?" he asks his teammates. Billy takes him by the wrist and pulls him over to the screen. Billy points to the right side and Lucien is surprised to see Jack's battle is still going on. Currently the camera is focused on Jack standing over the entire RED team, their legs currently broken or severed. They are lined up in a row, all squirming in agony as Jack takes his time with them, cutting them up gruesomely with his knife. Half of the team is dead, the Scout is crying, and the Sniper seems the most horrified as he watches Jack slash at the bodies and lick blood off his fingers and knife. Eventually the entire team is dead, saving the Sniper for last. He can see the bloodlust in Jack's crimson eyes as he especially toys with his replacement, making each cut more painful than the last. Lucien winces and almost has to look away as Jack pokes the tip of his blade into his replacement's eyes. The rest of the pain becomes worse for the poor RED that even Lucien almost pities him. Eventually he allows the Sniper to die, then the rest of the screen turns black. When the vehicle brings Jack home, Lucien is not surprised when the man steps out caked in blood.
"Mon dieu, Jack, did you have to make such a mess?" Lucien asks bewildered.
"Heh heh heh... Sorry, Luc. Don't worry, Oi can clean meself. Ohh, it was amazin', though. That's what Oi call a real bloody rootin'," Jack purrs and licks the blood from his fingers. The man is comparing a vicious bloodbath to sex and the murders win. Lucien can admit he has had some amazing murders in his life back when he was younger, but Jack's brutality... Well he was not given his new title for nothing, and at least Lucien is not the only one disturbed by him; Samoht's eyes are avoiding the bloody Australian, but Billy and Steven do not seem to mind or care. They may even be just as excited for all he knows. Lucien looks at his four teammates and remembers their formal selves. Though a bit morphed, those former REDs are still here right now. They are still a team and that will never change, not even if Freak Fortress manages to kill them before they can escape.