Ed Fortress 2

by The Wanderer of Insanity

First fanfic. When the kids of the cul-de-sac mysteriously wake up in the world of TF2, they must work with RED team to find a way home. Will the kids be up to the challenge of mercenary work? Rated M for later chapters.

7. Doomsday

Chapter 7

It was Saturday, the beginning of the kids' first weekend off.

Eddy and Double D were driving into town with Jackson. Eddy riding in the passenger seat and Double D was in the back. The two were out of their work clothes and wearing the clothes they brought into this dimension.

Jackson was wearing a red tee shirt and jeans instead of his asbestos suit. Along with that, he wore a pair of sunglasses, a bandana to cover his face, a bowler hat, and a top hat on top of the bowler hat.

"Could ya tell me again, why you're wearing all of that?" Eddy asked.

"I'm wanted in seven states and five other countries," Jackson said. "I need to be in disguise."

"Isn't the bandana a little conspicuous?" Double D said.

"Not if I'm wearing a hat," he responded.

"I fail to see how a hat, let alone two, will help you be incognito," Double D said.

"I don't know how it works in your dimension, but hats are a big thing here. If I wear one, people will assume the bandana and glasses are part of it."

"Okay," Eddy said. "Then why do you need two?"

"Class. The more hats you wear and the better quality they are, the fancier people will think you are. That's not always the case, though. It also looks nice."

"Think we could get some?" Eddy asked. "I've got an image to keep."

"Who are you trying to impress?" Jackson said. "The only people you know here are you're friends and co-workers."

Double D stifled a laugh.

Eventually, they arrived at the farmer's market.

"I thought we were getting parts," Eddy said.

"We are," Jackson said.

"Then why are we here?"

"Some of the parts we need can be found in tractors and combines," Double D said. "Maybe some farmers are selling them as broken, old, or replacements."

"We also need to get food," Jackson said. "Since I took you kids in, we've gone through over two weeks' worth of food in a few days."

The three got out of the van and split up. Double D and Eddy looked for parts for the teleporter, and Jackson went to buy food.

The two Eds found a stall that looked like it could be selling parts that Double D might need. They approached the man behind the plastic table being used as a counter. He wore a flannel shirt tucked into blue jeans by a belt with a large rodeo buckle. He was also wearing leather boots and a cowboy hat.

"Excuse us sir," Double D said. "You wouldn't to be selling any of these parts would you?" He handed the man the list of parts he needed.

After looking at the list for a moment, the merchant said, "Why, yes I do." He spoke with a southern drawl, similar to Engineer's. "But I only sell to adults."

"But why?" Double D said.

"'Cause whenever I sell these to kids, they end up making a go-kart or somethin', when there are folks who need these parts to fix equipment and make their livin'," he spat out.

"But we need these parts," Double D begged.

"For what?"

"You wouldn't believe us if we told ya," Eddy said.

"Then no parts for you," the man said.

"That's enough."

Eddy and Double D looked behind them to see who said that. The salesman looked that way too. It was Jackson, and he was carrying two cloth bags full of meat.

"If you won't sell to them, then sell to me," Jackson said. "We need those parts."

"Fine," the man said. "Just show me you're over eighteen."

Jackson set the two bags down, removed his sunglasses, and pulled down his bandana. "Is this proof enough?"

"Jackson! What are you doing with a couple of kids?"

"It's a long story, Tony, one you're not interested in. While none of us are over eighteen, you still owe me a favor, and I'm going to collect on it. I'd like to buy the parts."

The man named Tony thought about this for a moment. He let out a disgruntled groan. "Alright, you can have the parts...for double the price."

"Done," Jackson said, putting his disguise back on.

"What?!" Eddy said.

Jackson ignored him and asked Double D for the money they were saving up for parts. Double D handed him all of it and let him count it out. Jackson gave half of it to Tom, and the rest back to Double D.

Tom went to the back of his stall and brought out all of the parts they had purchased in a plastic bag. "I don't know what you're buildin'," he said. "But it had better be good."

"Oh, it will be," Jackson said. He took the parts, gave them to Double D to carry, and the three departed.

"Why did you pay double?" Eddy said. "He owed you."

"If I didn't take it, he wouldn't have sold it to us," Jackson said. "When you don't pay, even if it's just a favor, a mercenary, they'll usually come after you. I could have shot him on the spot, but it would draw attention. Since I have to help take care of you kids, I'd have to wait until you get back to your dimension so that I could get another chance at him. But by then, he'd probably have moved away and rumor would spread that I don't always collect on payment. That would affect my reputation and who would buy my services."

"That's understandable," Double D said. "But how did you know him?"

"Let's just say he owed me a favor."

"Since we still have some money left," Eddy said. "Do you think we could get some hats?"

"Eddy!" Double D said. "That money is supposed to buy us the parts we need to get home. If you wanted a hat, you should have brought your own money."

"Excuse me, did you say you needed a hat?"

Eddy, Double D, and Jackson turned towards the voice. They saw a man in a lone stall looking at them.

The man was young, maybe Jackson's age. He wore a light-blue vest with a white undershirt and pants that matched his vest. The fedora on his head and the gloves covering his hands were the same color as his vest. The three assumed he was also wearing shoes that matched the color of his vest. Everything that was blue on him seemed to have a shine.

The stall he was in looked like it belonged in an Arabian bazaar. It had a wooden base and long wooden poles supporting a silk tapestry that was being used as a roof. The counter was also covered with a silk curtain. There were many hats hanging from the wooden back wall.

"Yes, you there," he said. "Would you like to buy a hat?"

"No thanks," Jackson said politely. "We need to get home." The three continued to walk away.

"Yes, you should get home," the man called after them. "Your teleporter won't build itself, in a manner of speaking."

The group stopped in their tracks and turned around. "How do you know about our teleporter?" Jackson asked.

"Oh, I know a lot of things, Jackson," the man said. "How I know them is something you don't need to know. What you do need to know, is that I can help."

"And how can you help us?" Eddy said in disbelief.

"With this." The man bent down behind the counter and brought up a large wooden crate. He reached inside and pulled out a bar of metal. It looked like it was gold, but it was slightly darker. On top of the bar was an imprint of a man boxing a kangaroo.

"That's a solid bar of Australium!" Jackson exclaimed.

"Why, yes it is" the merchant said. "And it's for sale."

"How much are you selling it for?" Double D asked. He was awestruck that more Australium than he would need was within his grasp.

The man opened the crate again and put the bar of precious metal back in. He shut the lid and said, "$500 for everything in this crate."

The three snapped back to reality. "What's the catch?" Jackson asked.

"Catch?" the man asked playfully. "What catch?"

"You're selling a bar of metal that allows teleportation, invisibility, even life extension, and whatever else is in that crate for $500," Double D said. "My apologies if we're being skeptical, but that sounds highly suspicious."

"Fair enough. The crate has a set of instructions from me. Promise to follow them exactly, and the Australium is yours."

"And if we don't do what you want?" Eddy asked.

"Trust me, you will want to, eventually. So do we have a deal?"

Jackson turned towards Double D and Eddy. "It's your money."

Double D thought for a moment. The deal was suspicious, and something about this man didn't seem right. The deal could be a scam, but Double D and the others could easily earn the money back. If it wasn't, then he could get started on the teleporter and the kids could get home quicker.

"We'll take it," he said. Double D handed him the money.

The man smiled as he took it. "You won't regret it."

Double D lifted the crate off the counter. It was fairly heavy, and he struggled a bit to carry it. He thanked the man, and the three walked away.

After stopping at a few more vendors to buy food, Eddy, Double D, and Jackson arrived at the van and drove home. Eddy was in the passenger seat and Double D was in the back with the materials and food.

"Hey Double D," Eddy said. "Why don't ya see what's inside the crate?"

"I was going to wait until we were home, but if you insist," Double D said.

He opened the top of the crate and looked inside. There was the bar of Australium, a booklet tilted Australium and You, a radiation suit, and an envelope.

He picked up the envelope and examined it. There was nothing written on the outside. Double D opened it and looked over the letter that was inside.

Eddy was looking over his seat at Double D. "What's it say?"

"It's a way for us to get back home, but it's nonsense," he said. "The odds of it working are astronomical. It would be safer to rely on the teleporter."

Double D put the letter back in the crate and started looking through the pamphlet.

By the time he finished, they had just arrived at Jackson's house. Jackson drove behind the barn and they saw a mysterious pickup truck.

"Are you expecting anyone?" Double D asked concerned.

"No," Jackson said. He got out of the van. The Eds followed his lead.

Jackson pulled out a revolver from a concealed holster that tucked between his pants and his hip.

"Get you shotguns and meet me at the house," he said.

Eddy and Double D ran around the barn and went through the broken doors. They went to their stalls and grabbed their shotguns. The two ran back outside and met with Jackson at the front door of the house.

"Ready?" Jackson asked.

"Ready," Eddy and Double D said in unison.

Jackson turned the know slowly, then they burst in, weapons up and ready to fire.

The kids who had stayed behind were in the living room and looked surprised. Rolf was holding a new sniper rifle up and pointing it at Jackson, Eddy, and Double D. Kevin and Ed were doing the same with a new rocket launcher and minigun, respectively.

Kevin put down his rocket launcher. It was black and rectangular. "Sorry," he said. "You surprised us."

"It's all right," Jackson said, still tense. "Where did you get the new weapons?"

"Those would be from me."

The three at the front door looked towards the kitchen. There was a young woman with black hair tied in a bun and glasses. She was holding a clipboard and wore a purple blouse and jeans.

"Miss Pauling," Jackson said, lowering his weapon. "What are you doing here?"

"The Administrator wanted me to tell you about the children's special mission," she said.

"Special mission?" Eddy asked, weapon still at the ready.

"Yes. I'm sure you're aware of next week's event," she said.

"Yeah, they're sending Poopy Joe into space to fight Vladimir Bananas," Jackson said.

"Correct. NASA has asked Mann Co. Monkeynautics to supply the fuel and the rocket. Hale being the way he is, would only accept if fighting was involved. Long story short, BLU and RED are being hired to fight each other and deliver the fuel"

"And the kids are representing RED?" Jackson said.

"Yes and the sets I brought are going to help them."

"Sweet! What did I get?" Eddy asked, his shotgun now pointing at the floor.

Miss Pauling looked at her clipboard. "You are getting the #1 fan set. It's behind the house."

"What's that got?"

"I'll let you find that out." She tore a page off her clipboard and handed it to Jackson. "Here is the address of the launch. The media will be there, so I recommend you wear a disguise. Goodbye." She walked past him and out the door.

Eddy rushed to the backdoor and went outside to get his item set. Double D and Jackson followed him.

Behind the house were many crates. Most had already been opened, but twelve were still sealed shut. Four of the unopened boxes were marked with a winged shoe, another four were marked with a wrench, and the rest were marked with a flame.

"I thought Sarah already got her set," Jackson said.

"They must be for you then," Double D said.

"How are we supposed to open these things," Eddy asked, trying to open one of the crates with the winged shoe symbol on the side. "They're nailed shut."

"I'll be right back," Jackson said. He went inside.

When he came back out, he was holding his fireaxe in his right hand, and a hammer in hisleft hand.

"We can either pull the nails out, or smash the boxes open," he said.

"I'd rather have my crates opened more delicately," Double D said.

"Well I want to get to my stuff as soon as possible," Eddy said.

"Alright then," Jackson said. He handed Double D the hammer. Jackson aligned his axe on one side of Eddy's first crate. Jackson brought his axe up and swung down, breaking part of the side off. He kept doing this until he had opened all of Eddy's and his own crates too. Double D had finished opening his own crates too.

Like Miss Pauling had said, Eddy had received the #1 Fan set, which had the Soda Popper, the Winger, the Atomizer, and Bonk Boy! mask.

Double D and Jackon didn't get sets, but instead they received an assortment of weapons and a hat that didn't belong to a set.

Double D got the Frontier Justice, the Wrangler, the Jag, and the Texas Ten Gallon hat.

Jackson's new equipment was the Backburner, the Detonator, the Sharpened Volcano Fragment, and the Brigade Helm.

"What kind of gun is this?" Eddy asked, holding up his new main weapon. It looked like his normal scattergun, but the barrels were slanted and a soda can was duct taped to them.

"That is the Soda Popper," Jackson said, looking over the manual for the gun. "When you run with it, the soda gets shaken up and you can jump in mid-air more than normal."

"Sweet," Eddy said.

Jackson handed him the instruction manual. "You might want to read this," he said."You'll need to know what your new weapon can do. Same goes for the rest of your equipment."

Eddy took the manual and gathered the manuals for the rest of his weapons. Double D and Jackson did the same.

Eddy and Double D went inside, while Jackson went to his van to get the food and parts they bought at the market.

"What did you guys get?" Ed asked.

"I got the #1 Fan set," Eddy bragged.

"I didn't get a set," Double D said. "But I did get new equipment. What did you get Ed?"

"I got this," he said. Ed held up a new minigun that looked like his current, but it was dark gray and a belt of bullets could be seen on coming from the large chamber that held the remaining bullets.

"And this." The next weapon Ed held up was literally, half of a sandwich.

Before anyone could question it, Ed continued. "And these." He held up a pair of red boxing gloves. There was nothing that looked special about them.

"And this," he said, donning a black fur hat. On the front of it was a red star.

"Interesting," Double D said.

The other kids started to explain what equipment they were given. Kevin got the Tank Buster set and the Equalizer. Sarah's new items were the same as what Jackson got. Johnny had gotten: the Loose Cannon, Scottish Resistance, the Scotsman's Skullcutter, and the Demoman's Fro. Rolf wore the Ol' Snaggletooth hat that came with his Croc-o-Style kit. Nazz's new "medical supplies" consisted of the Clinical Trial and an Otolaryngologist's Mirror. Jimmy got the Saharan Spy set, along with the Cloak and Dagger watch.

By the time they had finished explaining what their new equipment did to each other, Jackson had come inside after he had finished unloading the groceries from the farmer's market. He was carrying the last few bags of meat and vegetables.

"Double D," Jackson said, "I put the crate in the barn for you."

"Thank you Jackson," Double D said. "I'll get started on the teleporter right away."

"What's in the crate?" Kevin asked.

"It has the materials for the teleporter that we bought at the market," Double D said. He walked out the door and towards the barn to get to work.

"Hey Jackson," Kevin said. "Do you know anything about our special mission?"

"Yeah," he said. "But it's probably better to watch the news to learn about it. I'm going to go make lunch." He walked into the kitchen.

Eddy picked up the remote and turned on the TV. He switched the channel to watch the news like Jackson advised. The news anchor that appeared was conviently talking about next week's national event.

"With only a few days until Mann Co. Monkeynautics launches monkeynaut Poopy Joe into outer space, the whole nation is anxious to see who will win. NASA has been preparing Poopy Joe for years, and soon he will fight Vladimir Bananas and win the space race for America. We now go live to an interview with owner and CEO of Mann Co., Saxton Hale."

The scene changed to two men, one taller than the other. Both men were in business suits, but the taller man had a handle bar mustache, and the shorter had a box car mustache.

The taller one said, "I'm sorry, but Mister Hale could not come to the interview. He had a..." The man hesitated.

The shorter one finished the sentence quickly, "He had an unexpected meeting that required his immediate attention."

Off camera, someone in the distance yelled out in a gruff, Australian voice, "I'm gonnna rip you hippies apart with my damn, bare hands!" Screams of pain could be heard following the outburst.

The two men were surprised by the screaming, but they quickly dismissed it.

The taller one said, "Mister Hale will try to schedule another interview, but he is busy right now. We're sorry for any inconvenience."

The scene changed back to the news anchor who continued to update the country on the launch and other interesting news including a kidnapping, a string of murders, foreign affairs, the weather, and more. The kids watched for the rest of the hour, then Jackson brought out grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. He left the house to bring Double D some lunch.

"So, we're launching a monkey into space to fight a Russian monkey?" Eddy said.

"It would appear so," Rolf said.

"Monkey fight!" Ed said.

"And we get new weapons to do it," Kevin said. "This should be fun."

"It looks like we won't be going home until after this mission, even if Double D finishes the teleporter," Sarah said.

"I doubt he'll have it finished by then anyways," Eddy said. "Besides, the more missions we win, the more money we can bring back home, and we'll be rich. Just think of what we could buy."

"And how are we gonna explain it all to our parents, let alone us being missing and our weapons?" Kevin said.

"We'll figure it out when we have to," Eddy said. "Right now, let's focus on our special mission."

"If you want my advice," Jackson said, coming back inside, "You should use your new weapons in the missions before the rocket launches. You'll get used to them and you will do better during the launch."

"You're right," Kevin said. "Maybe we can do a bit of training after our normal missions."

"Good idea, Kevin," Johnny said. "Me and Plank wanna try out our new weapons."

"Yeah, I could get some practice done with my new stuff," Eddy said.

"Me too," Jimmy said.

"Then it's settled," Jackson said. "After work, I'll take you to a map that RED has control of, so you can train with your new weapons without losing any real matches."

"Alright then," Kevin said. "We've got training to do. The whole country is counting on us, and we aren't gonna let them down."

The next Friday.

The kids were on their way to the launch site, which was strangely called Doomsday.

"I can't wait to launch the rocket," Eddy said. "Just think of how famous we'll be: The first kid mercenaries to launch a monkey into space."

"I'm not so sure about the mercenary part, but it would be an honor to help America defeat Russia," Double D said.

"Whatever," Kevin said. "As long as we get paid, I'm happy."

"So how's the teleporter going, Double D?" Sarah asked.

"I've finished the original design," he said. "Now I need to reconfigure the targeting system so that it can teleport without an exit."

"So we're close to going home?" Jimmy asked.

"Not quite," Double D said. "After I reconfigure it, I still need to figure out the coordinates of our world so it will send us there."

"Oh," Jimmy said a little upset.

"But we're closer to going home than before, right Double D?" Nazz asked, hoping his answer would cheer up Jimmy.

"Yes, Nazz," Double D said. "We are closer than before."

"Good," Kevin said. "I'm startin' to miss home, man."

"We all are, Kevin," Eddy said. "Just focus on the mission, that'll keep your mind off it."

"Speaking of which, we're here," Jackson said, wearing his disguise like Miss Pauling had advised.

"Finally," Eddy said. He opened the passenger door and was greeted by flashes of lights.

"There they are!" somebody cried out excitedly.

"What the?!" Eddy yelled, shielding his eyes from the lights.

"I thought she said the press, not the damn paparazzi," Jackson said.

The kids in the back climbed out of the door with their equipment, prepared for the camera flashes. When they weren't being blinded, they could see the rocket towering over most of the map. Behind the rocket was a large building that seemed like it was part of the map.

"Well, it looks like we'll be receiving even more publicity," Double D said.

"That's not the best thing for mercenaries," Jackson said.

"It's a national event," Kevin said. "I don't think it can be helped."

"Alright, I'll come pick you up after I'm done with my job," Jackson said.

He drove off and the kids walked towards their end of the map. The swarm of press moved out of their way, but still asked questions. The kids all answered, some for fame, some to be polite, and others just so the press would stop bugging them.

Eventually, they made it to the door to their base. When they entered, they could hear a booming voice. They couldn't make out what it was saying, because the walls were muffling it.

"Alright" Kevin said beginning to explain his plan. "All we need to do is take the fuel to the rocket.

"Eddy, you grab the fuel, while Sarah, and I protect you.

"Johnny, Ed, Nazz, and Double D, get to the rocket and hold off the clones if they get the fuel.

"Rolf, find somewhere to snipe at the BLUs if they get past our main defense.

"Jimmy, get close to the BLU base and start backstabbing as many of the clones as you can. The more clones you kill, the less that can attack Eddy or our defense."

"And if our plan fails, Shovelchin?" Eddy asked distastefully.

"Then we wing it," Kevin said.

"Mission begins in thirty seconds," the Administrator's voice said over the intercom.

"Ready up," Kevin commanded.

Nazz started to heal the others with her Quick-Fix to gain Uber and give her team overheal, especially on the three that were going after the fuel.

"Five. Four. Three. Two. One."

The gates opened and the Administrator said, "Operation: Monkeynaut is go!"

The kids ran out of their spawn base. The three offensive class kids and Rolf went to the entrance to the building on the left marked "Australium". After going through the building, Rolf stopped on the platform and aimed at the far platform behind the rocket.

Double D, Johnny, and Jimmy went through the middle building labeled "Rocket". Double D quickly put down a teleporter after going through the grating inside the building.

Ed and Nazz went through the entrance to the building on the right, also labeled as "Rocket".

The two walked straight out of the building and met with Double D. Johnny had sticky jumped up to the ledge behind the rocket and was firing cannonballs from his Loose Cannon at the BLU clones that were coming to the rocket: two Sarahs, a Kevin, an Ed, a Nazz, and a Double D, who was putting down a sentry. Johnny wasn't surprised at the two BLU Sarahs, BLU had been using multiple clones of the kids since they got the new equipment, but there had always been about nine clones total and they had only used stock equipment. Thankfully, when the kids had been training, they had been facing practice bots who changed class when necessary so they were prepared for any changes.

Ed started firing his minigun at the clones from across the lift, while Nazz healed him. Ed knew that his new minigun didn't do as much damage as his first one, but he noticed the bullets somehow slowed the clones down considerably.

Nazz's Quick-Fix was healing Ed almost as much as the BLU Sarah's were hurting him with their shotguns, even if it wasn't overhealing him as much as her stock Medi-gun. The two clones didn't want to get close to Ed, for fear of being slowed and killed by his minigun.

Double D fired two shells from his Frontier Justice at the BLU Ed, who was firing at RED Ed and taking damage from Johnny's grenades, then he ran up the ramp onto the ledge to join Johnny and placed a dispenser. He started beating on the building with his Jag, making the machine build faster than if he had used his normal wrench.

Meanwhile, Eddy, Kevin, and Sarah were trying to kill the two BLU Eddys and Johnny that were there fighting for the fuel. The fuel hadn't spawned yet, but they were all trying to get rid of the other team so they could claim it for themselves.

The real Eddy was running around to the BLU side with his Soda-Popper, firing at his clones, who were firing back with their scatterguns. He hated how he could only fire two shells, but the faster reload speed helped make up for it. The triple jump from his Atomizer also gave him a bit more time to reload at the cost of some health.

Kevin was using his Black Box to fire at the BLU clones from the RED's side. It was useful for when the BLU Johnny's grenades got past Sarah's airblasts. Anytime one of Kevin's rockets hit a BLU, some of his health regenerated. He thought it was worth the three-rocket clip size he had because of it.

Unfortunately for Sarah, the two airblasts she used to protect Kevin and Eddy had cost half of her Backburner's fuel. She made up for this by burning the two BLU Eddys that were distracted by the real one. As the name of her flamethrower implied, it did much more damage, critical to be exact, against enemies whose backs were to her.

Soon one of the clones was killed, and the other one turned and ran backwards away from the fight, firing a few shells at Sarah and shouted at BLU Johnny, "I'll be back."

The Johnny clone didn't seem happy at the other clone's retreat for health, but he still continued fighting. He fired one more grenade at Sarah before he started reloading.

Sarah used what little ammunition she had to deflect it. The grenade bounced back and detonated near the clone, but he was still alive. BLU Johnny fired a freshly reloaded grenade at her before he focused on Eddy.

Eddy was running at the clone and firing shots at him. He missed both times and reloaded. He was still running at the clone and soon, he was close enough to melee.

He was still reloading, when the BLU Johnny pulled out his Eyelander. Eddy switched to his Atomizer mid-reload, dropping a shell, and swung at him. The bat was heavier than his normal one, so his swing was slower, but he did get in a hit before the BLU Johnny decapitated him.

"Take that professor scam," the clone yelled.

Kevin fired a rocket from his freshly reloaded launcher. It hit the clone, gibbed him, and healed Kevin a bit.

"The Australium is ready for pickup in three. Two. One."

Suddenly, a hole in the ground opened up towards the fence that marked the boundaries of the map. A grey, plaid suitcase with a small tube of a glowing golden liquid, presumable the Australium, attached to it was being lifted up through the hole. Not wanting to have to wait for Eddy, Kevin ran and picked the fuel, making the color become a red plaid.

"Eddy'll have to catch up," Kevin said to Sarah. "We have to get this to the rocket."

Since Kevin couldn't understand her very much with the mask on, Sarah just nodded and gave him a thumbs up.

The two kids ran up the dirt ramp that was on their side of the map, and into the doorway that led into the tunnel. They were turning the first corner in the tunnel when the BLU Eddy that had run off for health.

"I'm back," the clone said. He started firing shells at Kevin.

Kevin retaliated with his Black Box. Unfortunately, the healing effect didn't offset the damage from the clone's scattergun combined with Kevin's own splash damage.

Sarah charged at the clone with her Backburner. She had picked up the Eddy clones' scatterguns, so her Backburner had more ammunition. She succeeded in setting the clone on fire, but she fell dead to the ground from two near point-blank shots from his scattergun.

The Eddy clone grabbed the med-kit that was in the small room next to the hallway they were in. He fired two more shots at Kevin and he fell dead.

The clone walked over to Kevin's body and tried to pick up the fuel he had dropped. As his fingers curled around the handle, he felt a big shock.

"Yow," he screamed. He released the suitcase and started rubbing the hand that was shocked, trying to sooth the pain. "What the...?"

His confusion was interrupted by two shots being fired from behind and hitting him. The clone looked in the direction of the shots and saw the real Eddy.

"Did ya miss me?" he taunted. He fired another two shells at his clone after reloading. These two finally killed him. Eddy ran over to the suitcase that was still on Kevin's corpse and picked it up painlessly, then he started running towards the rocket.

As he was crossing the bridge, he felt a sharp pain in his left side. He looked towards where the bullet came from, and saw the BLU Rolf standing on the platform that led to the fuel, similar to the one the real Rolf was on.

Eddy ran into the wall next to the large doorway of the building on the bridge and fell on his back. He heard a loud crack and saw a bullet hole in the wall he just ran into. He stood up and ran inside of the building. Being safe, he picked up one of the bottled med-kits and drank it, then ran towards the rocket.

While running towards Ed and Nazz, he fired two shells at a BLU Sarah that was firing her shotgun at Ed, who was focused on his clone, from across the lift. As Eddy was reloading, he saw bullets being rapid fired into the clone's body. Eddy looked up at the ledge behind the rocket and the lift and saw a level two sentry with a red sphere around it. He also saw Double D standing next to a level one dispenser with a joystick, seemingly controlling his sentry gun with it. Then, Double D pointed the joystick towards the BLU Ed that was across the rocket's lift from the real Ed.

Eddy ran onto the rocket's platform. He felt a sudden lurch as it started to rise to the top of the rocket.

"Come on, come on," Eddy said, urging the lift to move faster.

He was about a quarter of the way up when he felt bullets whizzing by his head. He crouched to avoid them, but he couldn't avoid the grenades that were coming up. He scrambled to the side of the lift to minimize the damage he would take, but the grenades kept coming. He had a quick look at the HUD his Uberpack let him see, and he noticed his health was low.

Not wanting to die, he set the fuel down and jumped off the lift, causing it to slowly descend.

"Eddy!" Double D shouted. "What are you doing?!"

"I need health!" Eddy shouted back, landing next to a nearby rock.

Double D thought that Eddy's excuse was a valid one, so without taking his eyes off his targets, he said to Johnny, "Johnny, grab the fuel and ride the lift up to the rocket."

"Alright, Double D," he said. He stood next to Double D's dispenser for a moment to regain health and ammo. Then he jumped down onto the lift and picked up the fuel, making the lift ascend again. He started firing cannonballs at the BLU clones again.

Double D was focusing his sentry gun on the BLU Nazz. Her Ed had been killed and she was running to get a med-kit. Double D was able to kill her before she got could grab more health. Double D was so intent on using his Wrangler, that he didn't notice the BLU Jimmy that came up from behind and backstabbed him. The clone then sapped his sentry while it was recovering from the loss of the Wrangler.

The Jimmy did not go unpunished though. He felt a small explosion detonate next to his left shoulder, and his whole body caught fire. He turned towards where the explosion came from and saw Sarah with her Detonater out, and Kevin right behind her.

Kevin used his Black Box to rocket jump up to the Jimmy. The clone used his revolver to fire a few times at Kevin. Kevin used the loss of health to his advantage as he came down swinging with his Equalizer. After his first swing, another firework came up to the two and detonated, dealing more damage to the clone. Kevin felt the heat, but he wasn't hurt. Kevin swung one more time and damaged the clone enough for the afterburn to finish the job. Kevin didn't mind Sarah got the kill, all that mattered was winning.

Johnny was reloading his Loose Cannon. At the height he was at, he didn't have to prime his cannonballs too much. He was quickly joined by Eddy, who had jumped from the ledge that Double D's dispenser was.

The lift was almost at the top of the rocket, when Johnny took a bullet to the brain from the BLU Rolf that was still at the platform he was at when he tried to kill Eddy. The lift stopped, then started lowering. Eddy quickly picked up the fuel and saw in the distance the BLU Rolf drop, turning invisible right before hitting the ground. He saw the real Jimmy standing behind where the Rolf was in a cloud of smoke and he was wearing a mask, presumably one with Rolf's face. Then Jimmy cloaked and ran off to support the team.

Unfortunately, while Eddy was watching Jimmy kill the Rolf clone, a BLU Kevin had rocket jumped onto the rocket lift and started beating on him with his shovel. Eddy fought back with his Atomizer, but it was a poor weapon for melee. He switched back to his Soda-Popper, but it was too late for him.

The BLU Kevin guarded the fuel as the lift descended. He walked to the side and fired rockets at Nazz and Ed. Ed was fine, but Nazz needed health.

"Ed!" Nazz said. "I need health. Could you give me your Sandvich?"

"No can do, Nazz," Ed said. "It's gone."

"Where is it?" Nazz asked. She never saw Ed eat it while she was healing him.

"I don't know," he said. "But I have something better." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a dark brown, gooey lump. "A gravy cake. Here." He held out the blob to Nazz.

Nazz looked at it in shock. She had a quick peek at her HUD and saw her health was very low, but the special Medic Uberpack plugged into her heart started regenerating her health at a slow rate.

She was desperate for health. She took the gravy and put it in her mouth. She had to chew the congealed gravy a little, and she gagged as the warm, moist snack slid down her throat. Her HUD claimed that the cake had healed her as much as the Sandvich would have, but she still felt nauseous.

"Thanks Ed," Nazz said, trying not to vomit.

"You're welcome," Ed said, pulling out his minigun. He started firing his minigun at the Kevin clone, but it wasn't effective. The clone popped his head out just long enough to fire a rocket and took cover again. As the lift lowered though, the BLU Kevin became easier to hit. Soon, he couldn't hide from Ed at all and was killed by Ed's barrage of bullets.

With the clone dead, Ed ran towards the fuel. Right as he was about to pick up the fuel, it exploded.

"The Australium has returned to the pick-up site." The Announcer's voice said.

Ed and Nazz looked at each other, then noticed some of the BLUs running off towards the pick-up site for the fuel. The two ran back and up the ramp onto the platform to get the higher ground, so they could defend. Double D's dispenser was still there, so it gave the two a chance to heal and resupply ammunition.

Kevin started rocket jumping towards the pick-up site, while Sarah stayed here to help defend. She ran across the rocket's lift and started burning any of the BLUs that had stayed behind. She ignited the the BLU Johnny and Double D. The Double D clone had put down a sentry, so Sarah had to destroy it while it was building, costing her time. Grenades and shells were being fired at her while she was committing arson against the machine.

The two clones had gained distance from her, so Sarah pulled out her Detonater and started firing at them. She detonated two next to the Double D clone and killed him. She was only able to detonate one near the Johnny clone before a final grenade killed her.

"Good one, Johnny the Wood Boy," the BLU Rolf said, coming up from behind him.

"Thanks, Rolf," the Johnny clone said, focusing his grenades onto the real Ed and Nazz that had moved up to the ledge behind the rocket.

He had only fired one grenade when he thought of something. "Hey..."

The BLU Rolf stabbed the clone in the back. The Johnny clone couldn't make out a scream of pain. The BLU Rolf flashed for a moment, turning into the real Jimmy, then turning into the BLU Johnny.

"Thanks, Jimmy," Ed called out.

"You're welcome," Jimmy said, giving a thumbs up. He then ran off, narrowly missing a bullet that the BLU Rolf had fired from his sniping position.

Ed and Nazz ran to the side of the ledge so they wouldn't be the clone's next targets.

"We have taken the Australium," the Administrator said over the intercom.

"Not long now, fellows, " Double D called out running up the ramp to the ledge.

"Careful Double D," Nazz said. "There's a BLU Rolf over there."

"Thanks, Nazz," Double D said, putting down a sentry gun. "I'll be careful."

Double D started upgrading the sentry with the leftover metal he had, and the metal that was in his dispenser. The clang of his hammer on the sentry gun mixed with the steady sounds of bullets being fired from the sentry and sounds of screams and pain created the music of the battlefield.

The sound of a rocket detonating added to the symphony. Double D looked in the direction of the noise and saw Kevin in mid-air, screaming a battle cry. He landed on the lift, which started to rise, making his legs buckle beneath him.

He stood up and said, "I'm alright." Right afterwards, a bullet pierced his skull from across the map.

"No, you are not," the BLU Rolf said, pulling the bolt on his rifle back.

Double D, Ed, and Nazz defended the fuel from the ledge, staying out of the BLU Rolf's aim.

"I'm here," the real Eddy said, coming up the ramp closer to the BLU spawn.

"Be careful, Eddy," Double D said, repeating the warning Nazz had given him. "There's a BLU Rolf over there."

"Whatever," Eddy said. "He can't hit me.

"Just be care..."

"Guahh!"

"Guahh!"

Double D turned around and saw a BLU Jimmy coming at him with a butterfly knife. Ed and Nazz's bodies were lying on the ground behind him.

Double D switched to his shotgun, and the Jimmy clone switched to his revolver. The close-range gave Double D an edge, and the sentry gun helped even further. The clone hit Double D twice before he was killed.

"Nice one, Sock Head," the real Eddy said, coming up the ramp closer to the RED spawn.

"Why thank you, Eddy," Double D said. "As an engineer, I have to keep my guard up and watch out for spiAHH!"

Another BLU Jimmy pulled his own knife out of Double D's back. Then he quickly sapped the sentry gun and dispenser.

"Well, obviously you don't have a very good guard," the boy spy said. "And you shouldn't trust what the author says. Pfft, 'real Eddy'."

He was about to disguise as another member of RED, but the real Rolf had already fired a dart into his head. It wasn't critical, but it was fully charged, dealing enough damage to kill him.

"Decietful Jimmy boy...s," Rolf said.

"Nice one, Rolf," the real Eddy said, standing next to him.

"Ah!" Rolf yelled, caught off guard. He pulled out his Bushwacka and started hitting the "Eddy."

The "Eddy" stood there unflinching, the blade slicing harmlessly off of him harmlessly. Rolf realized this was the real "real" Eddy and stopped swinging.

"Can I go now?" Eddy said.

"Of course," Rolf said. "Rolf apologizes."

"Hey, no sweat, Rolfy boy," Eddy said. He ran off to fight with his Soda-Popper, and Rolf zoomed in with his rifle.

Eddy was just at the platform when a BLU Sarah came running at him with her flamethrower. Eddy fired twice and hit once. As he was reloading, the clone ignited him, then airblasted the boy into the air.

Eddy fired at the clone again. A rocket whizzed past his head and exploded next to the clone. Eddy landed on the ground next to the platform the rocket was on. It looked like Kevin had this under control, but Eddy didn't want to get shown up. He double-jumped to get a better view of the clone and fired once. At the peak of his jump, the clone deflected one of Kevin's rockets, and it directly hit Eddy, gibbing him.

Kevin landed and reloaded his launcher. He filled his Black Box with rockets, and then started firing again. The Sarah clone airblasted one rocket back at him, hitting the ground near him, then the clone charged at him. Kevin braced as the clone airblasted him into the air. He fired another rocket at her, this time hitting her directly and killing her. Kevin landed near where Eddy had been before he died, and then rocket jumped onto the platform. He ran over to the lift.

He felt bullets being steadily fired into his body. He looked up at the ledge where Double D, Nazz, and Ed had been, and saw a BLU Double D managing a level one sentry gun. The clone started firing his shotgun at Kevin, and soon he was killed, right before he reached the fuel.

The Double D clone started adding more metal to the sentry gun as the BLU Ed and Nazz arrived at the platform.

"Eddy's at the pick-up site, Double D," the BLU Nazz yelled out.

"We just need to hold them off for a bit longer," the BLU Double D said. "Then, it's ours."

"Oh no, it's not!" Johnny called out. He was on the platform closer to the RED spawn, and next to the ramp that led to the wooden ledge. He was firing his cannonballs at the BLU Double D that he could not see. Johnny was letting the fuse run out for a moment before he fired them.

The first cannonball was caught by the Double D clone, who stumbled back. He looked at the fuse in fear as it ran out. Its detonation hurt the clone and his sentry gun. Another cannonball came near the clone. He picked up his sentry gun and ran away from the explosive.

Johnny didn't see the clone's death in the kill feed, so he fired two more times before reloading and figuring out he had run off. The boy focused his attention on the BLU Ed-Nazz pair down at the lift. The timer for the fuel was running out and he needed to hurry. Johnny switched to his Scottish Resistance and started firing as many stickybombs as he could.

The BLU Ed switched to his shotgun and the BLU Nazz switched to her Syringe gun to get rid of them. They were only able to get rid of a few of them when Johnny detonated them all, exploding the two.

"Phew," Johnny sighed. He ran over to get the fuel. As he ran onto the lift, the BLU Rolf fired a fully charged bullet into his head.

That quick save bought the BLUs enough time for the fuel to time out and detonate, causing another one to appear at the pick-up site.

Back at the pick-up site, the BLU Eddy picked up the fuel and ran away from the real Eddy and Sarah that were trying to stop him. A BLU Johnny and Kevin were providing covering fire for the BLU Eddy to get to the lift. The Eddy clone ran through the tunnel that was closest to the BLU spawn.

The real Eddy was running across the pick-up site, trying to get past the two BLUs that were buying time for their friend to escape. Eddy dodged the rockets easily, but the sticky bombs narrowed the number of paths he could safely take. Unfortunately, the BLU Johnny had soon covered the routes Eddy could take to get to them and the tunnel quickly and safely. Eddy, realizing this, ran towards the two BLUs and aimed at the sticky bomb that was in front of them. He fired his Soda-Popper and triple-jumped.

He focused his attention on the two clones, and fired his remaining shell at the BLU Johnny. Most of the pellets from the shell hit him, but it was Eddy that took the most damage. The BLU Johnny retaliated by detonating his sticky bombs, the explosives launching Eddy up into the air.

While in the air, Eddy realized that his first shot had missed the sticky bomb, and he had jumped right over it. Had he have destroyed the sticky bomb, he would have taken much less damage, and stayed on the ground to kill the clones. Looking down, he saw that the explosions also harmed the boy who had detonated the bombs.

Eddy accepted that he would not survive the fall back down to the ground and reloaded. As his ascension slowed, he aimed and fired his Soda-Popper twice at the BLU Johnny. The two shots killed him, and Eddy started his quick descent to death. He landed only a foot away from Kevin.

The sticky bomb detonations were harmless to the boy soldier, and he continued firing his rockets at Sarah. Sarah tried her best to deflect them, but the airblasts from her Degreaser were having a greater toll on her ammunition than her stock flamethrower would have.

Running out of flamethrower ammo, and soon to be low on health, Sarah ran off through the tunnel opposite the one the BLU Eddy ran through. She ran into the pocket inside the tunnel that had the ammo-pack and med-kit. She resupplied and waited for the BLU Kevin. She waited for about thirty seconds before she lost patience and ran off to the rocket.

She exited the tunnel and continued running across the map, unharmed.

"The enemy is about to launch the rocket," the Administrator said over the intercom.

Sarah started running as fast as she could. She started firing her Detonator at the BLU Eddy riding the lift. She detonated the flare, and the clone caught fire. She tried firing again, but the clone retreated to the other side of the lift.

Sarah ran up the first ramp and then ran up the second ramp, but the BLU Double D saw her. He started to fire his shotgun at her. His sentry locked-on to her and fired. Sarah fired her Detonator at the clone and his machine. The flare detonated, and the Double D clone started roasting like a marshmallow. Unfortunately, the machine didn't catch fire, and even if it did, it wouldn't feel a thing. Sarah was soon killed and the Double D clone went back to defending his friend as the lift rose.

The clone felt an explosion right next to him and looked in the direction it was coming from. He saw Kevin rising quickly up in the air. Kevin reloaded in mid-air, and then fired again at the clone. The clone retaliated with his shotgun, but two rockets were enough to kill him. The sentry locked-on to the boy soldier, but it was destroyed as well as its creator. Kevin landed on the ground and sought out health.

He ran behind the large rock to grab a med-kit. Then he rocket jumped over the rock and onto the platform where the lift started, then up onto the wooden platform behind that.

He fired a rocket at the BLU Eddy before reloading. The BLU Eddy fired his scattergun at him. Kevin had reloaded one rocket before firing at him. The rocket exploded, hurting the clone and healing Kevin. Kevin tried reloading again, but the BLU Rolf fired from across the map and killed Kevin, again.

The BLU Eddy laughed as he continued his ascent to victory. He was low on health, but he didn't see any of the REDs, and a BLU Ed, Nazz, and Sarah were coming up the ramps to get to the wooden platform and jump onto the lift with him.

Once the three other BLUs were on the lift, the Ed and Sarah started watching the sides, and the Nazz started healing those two and the BLU Eddy.

Rolf lined up a shot from afar and fired. He missed a headshot and hit the BLU Eds chest, still dealing a large amount of damage and applying Jarate to him. Rolf pulled the bolt on his rifle back and lined up another shot. The Ed had moved away and the Sarah was his next target. He let the gun charge and pulled the trigger again. A Jarate filled syringe penetrated the girl's mask and skull, killing her. The syringe wasn't fast enough to go through her entire skull, but it still did an effective job.

As Rolf pulled the bolt back again, he was backstabbed by the BLU Jimmy. The BLU Jimmy stood there for a moment, smirking at the sight of his team about to launch the rocket. He ran forward off the platform, cloaked, and began looking for his next victim.

The real Eddy was running through the middle gate towards the rocket. He ran through the building and up the ramp. He turned to his left and ran up the next ramp onto the wooden platform. He fired once at the mob on the lift, then jumped towards the BLU base and fired at them in midair.

As the BLUs turned and focused on him, the real Ed and Nazz, who had just respawned after being killed at the lift before the BLUs took the Australium, were running out of the other gate that led to the rocket. They ran up the ramp, then Ed started firing his minigun into the fray of clones. He killed the BLU Ed, then the BLU Nazz. The BLU Eddy turned around at the sound of his allies' demise. He started running and jumping around the lift, trying to avoid the barrage of bullets coming from Ed's gun, but the special bullets slowed him down and made it difficult for him to maneuver.

Ed killed him, then ran up the ramp onto the wooden platform. He started firing his minigun at the BLU clones that were running out of the gates on their side of the map. The distance between him and the clones was too large to do much damage, but the clones were still slowed down a small amount. He held them off for a moment before two BLU Johnnys sticky jumped from their gates. They soared through the air and fired their grenade launchers at the pair of REDs.

With Ed being the only one that could effectively harm them, and the grenades dealing splash damage to both of them, Nazz was killed, and so was Ed shortly afterwards.

The two Johnnys landed on the platform, one after the other, then started firing their grenades at the real Johnny who was coming out of one of the gates on the RED side of the map. Johnny hid behind the large rock as he planned his next move. He pulled out his Scottish Resistance, fired a sticky bomb at the ground in behnid the rock, then stood in front of the bomb. He jumped, tucked his knees, then detonated the bomb.

In the air, he fired more sticky bombs at his clones. They jumped down onto the lift after the first one had landed and armed, then one of them grabbed the fuel, and the lift started to rise. Johnny landed onto the wooden platform, the two sticky bombs still there. He turned around, switched to his Loose Cannon, and started firing cannonballs at the pair of clones.

The clones fired their own grenades back at him. The real Johnny was at a disadvantage, mostly because it was two against one, and he had to time his explosives. Things changed in his favor when the real Eddy came back up the ramp on the BLU's side and helped him out.

Eddy jumped off of the wooden platform and landed on the lift. He started firing at the clones, one of which pulled out his Eyelander. Eddy reloaded and jumped around, dodging the swinging sword. After reloading, he fired one more shell at he clone and hit him. He would have fired again, but because of his jumping around, he accidentally jumped off of the lift and was killed by a headshot from the BLU Rolf from across the map.

The three BLUs, the Rolf and Johnnys, focused their attention onto the real Johnny. The grenades did most of the work, but the Rolf's bullet to the head was what dealt the killing blow.

The two Johnnys guarded their position as the lift rose. A BLU Sarah and Eddy came up the ramps to the wooden platform, then jumped onto the lift to join and protect the Johnnys. A BLU Kevin rocket jumped up onto the lift too.

They were soon at the top, and the Johnny with the fuel had to hurry. The lift stopped and the top of the rocket started to unscrew. The REDs from the bottom looked up at them in fear, but continued to try and stop them. The top of the rocket unscrewed fully and pulled back to reveal the slot where the Australium was to be put. The BLU Johnny pulled the fuel off of his back.

He was about to put the fuel into the slot, when the BLU Eddy pulled out a knife and backstabbed him. The other BLUs on the lift were in shock. The newly revealed Jimmy quickly pulled the knife out, and then turned to the BLU Sarah on his right. He used his left hand to pull her shoulder around and stabbed her in the back. Then he pulled his knife out of her back and twisted his body to the right to stab the Nazz. He hadn't moved his feet; he had just brought the knife out of the BLU Sarah's back, twisted his arm so the blade faced the other way, and stabbed the Nazz in the back. Jimmy finally pulled out his L'Etranger and fired twice at the other Johnny clone, then at the Kevin. The BLU Johnny had suffered enough damage from the real Johnny and Eddy's attacks, so the two bullets that entered his forehead finished off what little health he had. When Jimmy fired his pistol at the Kevin, his opponent realized what had happeded and quickly fired his rocket launcher at him. The direct hit almost killed Jimmy, but the splash damage that hit the Kevin was enough that Jimmy's L'Etranger killed him with one more bullet.

The lift started descending at the beginning of Jimmy's incredible killing combo. The boy started firing his revolver at the remaining BLUs on the ground, and his allies started became more motivated to fight the BLUs.

"Way to go, Jimmy!" Kevin called out, rocket jumping onto the lift to help defend the fuel. He started firing rockets alongside Jimmy. With Kevin there, Jimmy cloaked and ran off to eliminate the BLU Rolf that was still standing on the platform across the map.

The other REDs on the ground cheered on Jimmy as their morale skyrocketed. That last minute save not only gave them a second chance, but the style of it was incredible. Some of the other RED kids didn't see the killing spree, but they had seen the lift start descending and heard the Administrator claim the enemy had dropped the fuel.

Once the lift had fully descended, the real Ed, Nazz, and Sarah ran up to it and guarded the fuel with their lives. They might not get another chance if the BLUs grabbed it again and they were running out of time, so this had to be the final grab.

Kevin started rocket jumping away from the lift and towards the pick-up site. He thought that the others could defend it until the fuel detonated, and he needed to guard Eddy, who was also running towards the pick-up site, and guard him until they could get to the lift again.

Adding another defense, Double D placed down a sentry gun on the wooden platform next to the rocket. He started banging on it with his Jag as fast as he could. Once it was built, he invested all of his metal into the machine before going off to find more. The sentry's semi-automatic firing helped ward off the BLUs.

Rolf had moved up to the wooden platform and stood next to the sentry. With this being the team's final attempt and being on offense, Rolf had decided that he couldn't be much help from the platform near the pick-up site. He was out of sight from his clone, but he would move out of hiding once Jimmy had assassinated his BLU counterpart.

Soon, the fuel detonated. Eddy, Kevin, and Johnny were all at the pick-up site. Eddy grabbed the fuel, and ran away from the BLU Sarah charging at him with her flamethrower. As he ran backwards, Eddy fired two shells at the clone, and Johnny was firing cannonballs behind Eddy. As Eddy ran past the explosives, they detonated, deterring the BLU Sarah's progress.

While Eddy and Johnny were focused on the BLU Sarah, Kevin was firing rockets at the BLU Eddy, and Ed, who had just run out of the tunnel from their base. The Ed was firing his minigun at Kevn, but the rockets from Kevin's Black Box countered some of the bullets' damage. Some of the splash damage from the first rocket had hit the BLU Eddy, who was running after Eddy.

Eddy had turned around and ran through the tunnel that led underneath the sniper platform Rolf was on before. He quickly sidestepped to his right to grab a med-kit, then sidestepped to the left to continue his run out of the tunnel.

As he ran out of the tunnel and into a more open area, he started weaving to the left and right, trying to avoid the BLU Eddy's aim. Eddy was hit once by the clone's fire, and he turned around. As he lined up his shot, the clone fell back while still running. Eddy noticed a syringe in his head, and a yellow liquid poured from the needle.

He turned around and saw Rolf with his Sydney Sleeper. Rolf waved at Eddy, and Eddy waved back.

Eddy suddenly had an idea. He continued to run towards the rocket, but he shook his Soda-Popper vigorously. It was dangerous because a BLU clone could ambush him and he wouldn't be ready in time, but his charge meter started to fill up much quicker than normal. Once it was full, he pressed a button behind where the shotgun broke to reload. He felt a rush of energy and began to move.

Using his Soda-Popper's ability, he jumped up onto the platform with more jumps than he could normally do. He ran over to the lift and put the fuel on Ed's back.

"Think you can handle this, Lumpy?" Eddy asked.

"You betcha, Eddy," Ed said as he moved to the edge of the rising lift.

Eddy jumped off of the lift, then again in the air, and again. He landed behind a BLU Ed, a different one from the one from the pick-up site, and started firing at him from behind. The clone was caught off guard and turned around. He switched to his shotgun and fired at Eddy, but he was too quick.

Eddy kept jumping around him while firing and reloading. His Soda-Popper's ability to increase his number of jumps helped him avoid the shotgun shells, while letting him attack and eventually killing the Ed. Eddy ran off to fight and kill more BLUs while his jump boost was still active.

Back at the lift, Ed, Nazz, and Sarah were holding their ground. Ed was firing his minigun at the BLUs that Eddy couldn't focus on. He also gave a little support to him whenever there weren't any other BLUs to fire at. Nazz was focused on healing both Ed and Sarah, though there wasn't any immediate threat. It was still a good idea to fill up her ubercharge. Sarah was just running around the lift, watching out for any grenades or rockets that the BLUs would have launched up there.

Sarah started becoming bored when she saw Johnny running up the ramps. She became interested when she saw him walk by Double D and his machines, and electricity started pouring out of the sentry gun. Double D saw this, and started banging on the machines with his Jag.

Sarah watched as Johnny jumped onto the lift. She did a quick spy check on him and unleashed her flames. He failed the test and caught fire. Sarah continued to set the spy ablaze and watched as he burned to a crisp. The Jimmy clone fired a few times before dying and hurt her a little bit.

Nazz noticed that Sarah had taken damage and switched her Quick-fix to her. Sarah enjoyed the cool feeling of the Quick-fix's healing beam.

"Mmmph mmph," Sarah said.

"You're welcome," Nazz said. Over the course of a week, the other kids had begun to understand part of what Sarah was saying underneath her mask. "If you hadn't have stopped that spy, we could all be dead."

"Nazz help!" Ed shouted.

Nazz quickly focused her attention and Quick-fix on Ed. A BLU Kevin and Johnny had started attacking Ed with their launchers. The healing beam kept Ed alive for the moment, but the explosives harmed Ed faster than Nazz could heal him.

Wanting to help, Sarah started to use her Backburner's airblasts to deflect a few of the explosives. The pause in damage allowed Nazz to quickly heal Ed, and Ed could fire his Natasha without being bounced around from the explosions.

Even without being bounced around, Ed still had difficulty hitting the two clones on the ground. They could take cover from his bullets, but the Johnny clone could still hit him without being seen.

As the lift slowed to a stop, the clones below them turned their attention to the side. Ed looked that way too, and saw that the real Kevin was firing his own rockets at the clones. The clones tried their best to avoid him and attack Ed, but Kevin's rockets did enough damage to kill the Johnny clone. The Kevin clone now had to come out of cover if he wanted to attack Ed. He rocket jumped into the air and fired two rockets down onto the lift.

While in mid-air, the real Rolf used his Sydney Sleeper to fire a syringe into the clone, covering him in Jarate. As the clone was about to land, Rolf ran onto the lift with his Bushwacka. He swung at the clone and did immense damage. He swung again at the clone, who had switched to his shovel, and finished him off with a second consecutive critical hit.

"Thanks, Rolf," Ed said, pulling the fuel off of his back. The top of the rocket had finally unscrewed. Ed inserted the fuel into the slot, and watched as it locked into place.

The rocket started to rumble, and the administrator announced their victory, "We have launched the rocket."

The lift started descending as the rocket launched into the air. The kids all started cheering about their victory.

Double D stood next to his sentry gun as he watched the rocket soar up to the heavens. He felt a sense of accomplishment helping his country.

"I see you didn't follow my instructions."

"Huh?" Double D said. He looked to his right and saw the man that sold him the Australium standing there. The man was holding a staff, both hands on top of one side, and the other end of the rod planted into the ground.

"Of course, I would stay another week in a foreign universe if it meant I could launch a rocket that would explode," the man said. "There's still time, so I guess it didn't matter."

"Who are you, and what do you mean, 'there's still time'?" Double D asked. Then he realized what else the man said. He turned to look at the rocket again. "Wait, explode!"

"Yes," the man said turning to watch the rocket. "Didn't you know Hale switched the Australium fuel with Bestralium fuel?"

There was the sound of a trumpet playing, and then suddenly, there was a deafening boom as the rocket exploded overhead. Everyone on the ground stared in shock as the flames engulfed the rocket, and metal shrapnel flew out.

"Uh-oh," the administrator called out over the intercom.

"Apparently not," the man said, unfazed by the explosion. He turned to Double D again. "You might want to go now; Jackson will be here in a few minutes to pick you up."

Double D turned to speak to the mysterious man, but he was gone. Taking his advice, Double D detonated his sentry gun and ran back to the RED spawn. Not knowing what else to do, the other REDs followed him.

"What do you think went wrong?" Jimmy asked.

"The wrong fuel was used," Double D responded, packing his stuff together quickly.

"What do ya mean, 'wrong fuel'?" Eddy asked.

"Eddy, do you remember that man at the farmer's market last week?" Double D said.

"The guy who charged us double for the parts?" Eddy said, angrily remembering Tony.

"No," Double D said. "The one who sold us the Australium. After the rocket launched, he was standing next to me."

"What?" Kevin said. "But only mercenaries are allowed inside the map."

"I know, but he just appeared right next to me, and he knew that the rocket was going to explode."

"Do you think he planned it?" Nazz asked, shocked that anyone would do this.

"No, he said that Saxton Hale had switched the original fuel with something called Bestralium."

"What's that?" Ed asked.

"It sounds like it's like Australium," Sarah said.

"Who would dare go against their homeland?" Rolf asked angrily. Originating from a third-world village, he felt strong ties to his homeland, and betrayal should be harshly punished.

"Saxton Hale is Australian, Rolf," Double D said.

"Oh," Rolf said.

"So, what is Bestralium?" Kevin asked impatiently.

Before anyone could answer, the cell phone that Jackson had given them rang. Double D paused from his hurried packing, and answered the phone.

"Hello?" he said.

"What the hell happened?!" Jackson yelled on the other phone.

"The fuel was switched," Double D explained. "Instead of Australium fuel, Mr. Hale switched it with Bestralium fuel."

"Bestralium! Is he insane?!"

"That depends on what Bestralium is exactly," Double D said.

"I'll explain later," Jackson said. "Get your stuff packed. I'll be there soon, and I want you to get in the van ASAP." He hung up.

"What'd he say?" Eddy asked.

"He's going to be here soon, and he wants us to get to his van as quickly as we can," Double D said.

"Why?" Jimmy asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Kevin said sarcastically. "Maybe it has something to do with us blowing up a rocket and ruining America's chance to beat Russia." He started to pack his weapons quicker now that he knew that they need to leave in a hurry.

Sarah frowned at his sarcastic remark to her friend, but she and the others quickly started putting their weapons and equipment into their duffel bags. Being in a rush, they didn't bother to change out of their work clothes.

The cell phone rang again just as the kids had finished putting their equipment away. Eddy answered it this time. It was Jackson again.

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah," Eddy said.

"Then hurry up and get out here."

Eddy hung up and grabbed the duffel bag with his gear in it. "Let's go," he said.

He opened the door, and the young mercenaries rushed out. The news reporters saw them immediately and tried to ask questions, but the kids ignored them and ran to Jackson's van. Everyone followed them in a rush to get answers to the explosion. By the time the kids had entered the van, the reporters had swarmed the back of the vehicle. Jackson floored the gas pedal and the van went speeding away from the scene, leaving the reporters in the dust.

After a few moments, Double D asked, "Now will you tell us what Bestralium is?"

"Bestralium is basically militarized Australium," Jackson explained. "It's used mostly in missiles, and from what I hear, highly concentrated amounts of it can be used as a substitute for the energy inside of a nuclear bomb."

"Wow," Eddy said.

Double D, though impressed, was also concerned. "Should we be tested for radiation?"

"I wouldn't be worried about it," Jackson said. "From what I saw, the explosion wasn't nearly as bad as a nuclear bomb, so it probably wasn't too concentrated."

"Okay, but why would they use Bestralium?" Nazz asked.

"After being militarized, Bestralium doesn't have as many uses as Australium," Jackson said. "It's dangerous, so it can't be sold for an expensive price. Usually, expensive means safe. The price of Bestralium is much less than it is to weaponize the Australium, so it's rare on the Black Market."

"Are you saying that Mann Co. used Bestralium just to save money?" Double D said.

"Maybe. There's nothing we can do about it now. The rocket exploded, and Soldier and I owe Heavy fifty bucks."

Before anyone could ask about his bet, Jackson's cell phone started ringing. He put it between his ear and shoulder to talk into it as he drove.

"Hello?" he said. Eddy could hear a small bit of what the other person was saying, because he was sitting in the passenger seat as usual.

"Yes, I know, I saw it explode." He paused every now and again to listen to the person on the other phone. "That would probably be for the best. I'll see what I can find, do you have any suggestions?" "I'll check it out." "Really?" "In advance?" "Strange, but we'll keep our mouths shut." "Okay then, bye."

"Who was that?" Sarah asked.

"Miss Pauling," Jackson said. "She wants us to move away from Teufort for a bit."

"The map?" Eddy asked.

"No, the town," Jackson said. "She said that you to need to stay low until things start to calm down, and because of that, we're getting the rest of the day off. You kids to lay low, and me because I have to watch you."

"What else did she say?" Double D asked.

"She said that RED got a mysterious bribe to not say anything about the rocket exploding. Even about the Bestralium. What was weird was that it was received an hour before the launch. I really don't care about it since part of that bribe goes towards our paychecks."

"Could it have been from that strange man?" Double D thought aloud.

"Who cares?" Eddy said. "Part of that bribe is coming to us, and that's all that matters."

"The Dork's right," Kevin said begrudgingly. "We need the money to get home."

"I already have the materials," Double D said. "We don't need much more money."

"And if the parts break down?" Kevin said. "Or you scrap that machine and need to build another one."

"He has a point, Double D," Jackson said. "Until you have your teleporter fully working, you're going to need as much money as you need in case anything goes wrong. And if nothing goes wrong, you'll still have all of that money when you get home."

"Fine," Double D said. "But I still don't like this."

"You don't have to like it," Jackson said solemnly. "You just have to put up with it 'till things get better."

Everyone was silent for the rest of the drive. Once they arrived back at the hideout, the kids started to put their stuff back into their stalls.

"Keep your stuff together," Jackson told them. "I'm going to have a look at a hideout Miss Pauling suggested. If it's good, I'll rent a moving truck, and we'll start moving in."

"Do you think then we'll be able to get actual beds?" Eddy asked.

"Probably," Jackson said. He walked back to the main house to change out of his asbestos suit and prepare dinner.

The kids went inside of the barn and put their equipment away. Afterwards, they started talking about what had happened.

"So, Double D," Nazz said. "Who was that guy you were talking about? The one who appeared right next to you after the launch."

"Last week, when we were in town buying parts for the teleporter, we met a man in blue who sold us the bar of Australium I'm working with," Double D explained. "What was really strange about him was that he knew about me building the teleporter, and he sold us the Australium so cheaply."

"How much was it?" Kevin asked.

"$500," Double D said.

"That's a lot of money," Jimmy said.

"It's not much with how what we're getting paid," Eddy reminded him.

"And it's not much considering that Australium can be used to prolong life," Double D said. "There's something strange about that man."

"You also said he was standing right next to you at the launch," Johnny said. "How did he do that?"

"I don't know," Double D said. "I was too focused on the rocket to notice him before he started talking to me. He also disappeared in an instant."

"Do you think he had something to do with us coming here?" Sarah asked.

"I'm not sure. He knew about our teleporter and offered to help us, but that doesn't mean he was the one who sent us here."

"What's that Plank?" Johnny said. He picked up his friend and put him to his ear. "Plank says, 'How else would he know about our teleporter?'"

They continued to talk about the mysterious man until Jackson brought them out dinner. He told them he was going to go and look at the hideout Miss Pauling had suggested. The children continued to think and debate over the day's mysterious events.

Eventually, they had finished their food and agreed to talk more in the morning. They changed into the pajamas they had bought a few days ago, nestled into their piles of hay and blankets, and fell asleep.

AN: I LIVE! Sorry about the unexpected hiatus. With school going on, I haven't had much time to write this chapter. Okay I lied; a lot of me just putting this off has been procrastination and a bit of writer's block. I'm sorry, but I'll try to get another chapter typed up soon. Summer is coming up again, so I'll have more time to write. Please leave a review and any suggestions; it helps me improve the quality of my writing and the story. Until the next chapter, goodbye.