Team Fortress 2

French Class Behind Tinted Windows

Chapter 7- Trophy

By, the Unlucky-Charm

Nurse was tired of waiting. Each footstep she heard outside her cell scared the fucking crap out of her each time, but eventually, they all died out. She knew she still had a while to wait even if everyone had gone to sleep, or at least that's what made the most sense of the sudden silence.

She began to pace again because sitting down increased the chances of falling asleep. She calculated the seconds it took to walk from one end to the other, then she did the same while running, then skipping, then all of it backwards. She was bored. She was in pain. She needed to get her mind off those things and organize her thoughts. The blood everywhere wasn't allowing her to think straight. In one corner lay her tattered, bloodied sweater and in the other was the pool of her own blood. The sight was gut wrenching, but what made it worse is that she knew where it had come from... she shuddered; and what had caused it.

A while passed and she couldn't resist anymore. Clutching her bad arm, she dragged herself to the puddle. In the dim light, it looked like ink; the redness was barely visible. Sliding her foot forward, she reluctantly dipped her toe into it. Her sock got a little wet and she scraped it against the floor, leaving a red streak. This gave her an idea.

In the 'Chamber of secrets', the second Harry Potter movie, Ginny gets all possessed and shit and writes a message on the walls with blood. Nurse wasn't sure if Ginny had used her own blood, but she didn't have much of a choice, she just needed to entertain herself for a while. Question was, what should she write? The point of it is to piss them off, so it had to be something short, obnoxious and arrogant.

Trying to find a clever goodbye note was something new to entertain herself with until it was time. To be honest, she really didn't know when that time was. She figured she'd get on the move the second she felt a little tired. She really could NOT afford to fall asleep at this point.

It was remarkable to her, how little these people valued human life. They just killed as if this whole thing was a game to them. She didn't get the point of it in the first place, but they seemed to be making a good amount of cash, so that was sort of self explanatory. It was like they got points for each person they killed and they got a certain number of lives and a medical gun to heal them when they got injured. The more Nurse thought about it, the more she started to believe that this whole battlefield was some kind of stimulation for a video game. That's why they wanted to get rid of her. Someone had hacked into the system and added a character.

She knew what to write.

Exactly two hours later, Nurse was ready to leave the cell. She wiped the blood off her index finger onto her already stained tank top. She turned to get one last glimpse of her cell before she left. The message was leaking a little bit, but still very readable.

"Game over." She read and stepped out, making as little noise as possible.

A wave of very warm air hit her straight in the face when she walked out. The hallway was like a fucking sauna. The cell was much cooler. There was almost no air in the damn place. Couldn't someone open a window or something? Apparently not since almost every door in the hallway was left open, letting out small breathing and snoring noises. The hum of a heater could also be heard from the vents, maybe it was broken.

Nurse crept deeper into the corridor, peeking into one of the bedrooms. Though she could not see much, it was obvious that the heap at the foot of the bed were the sheets thrown aside. Next to the pile, lay a bowl shaped helmet.

Her heartbeat was going way too fast. The adrenaline was pumping through her veins, taking over the feeling of pain, at least temporarily.

She needed to get out of there and fast. She had to keep movement to a minimum, these men were serious about what they did, one wrong move and these professionals would sense her presence.

She slowly backed away from Engineer's (or Soldier's) room and tried to remember which way the Red Scout was about to lead her before she refused his assistance. Or was it a trap? Should she take the opposite way then?

'Okay, this is basically our base, but kind of...opposite.' She thought.

She closed her eyes and pictured the Blu base, trying to figure out her way downstairs. If she stepped out of her room, she would find herself in the hallway and then would go down the hall, towards the window at the end of it.

She opened her eyes. The window was on the right, that's the way she had to go and to her dismay, that was where the rows of bedrooms continued. As she tiptoed across the hallway, she caught glimpses of sheets thrown aside, sleeping heads, and alarm clocks with their bright red numbers glowing through the dark. It was a little past 2 am and she was tired, but she went on anyway. All these beds were tempting her, but knowing what kind of people slept in them kept her far away.

Nurse had never walked so slowly in her life. She couldn't make a sound, she couldn't afford to make that mistake. Two bedrooms passed, four...and to her horror, she came across an empty bed. She didn't know who it belonged to, but what she did know was that that person could be anywhere else in the base. It really didn't matter who it was, they were all dangerous in their own way. For all she knew, he could be right behind her and invisible too. Hell, that same person could have even been in her cell all this time. Now, THAT thought was absolutely terrifying.

Despite the empty bed, she continued her way at the speed of an old lady. She passed those rooms and came across number 5 and 6. The one on the right had its door closed, but door number 5 held something a little more interesting.

The idiot Scout who was now laying with the upper half of his body on the floor and his legs on the mattress, had left his door wide open. The light from the hall poured into his room, revealing the body of a very well built young man with the face of a boy, sleeping peacefully. His eyes close and his breathing slow, Nurse found it hard to believe that he was capable of murder. She supposed it was behind those closed lids that lay the fire that fueled him to run after the taste of blood.

Nurse found herself wanting to reach out. She wanted to experience this Scout, not the one who got her locked up. She backed away before she did anything stupid, she had to remind herself of the danger. She'd seen him on the field, after all.

The boy was a monster.

It was even harder to believe that he was the one helping her escape a few hours ago. No, there was no use convincing herself of that; it was impossible. It was a trick. He wanted to have his fun, play with his food before his teammate finished it off. That's all it was.

She stood by the doorway for a while longer. He had all his clothes lying around, along with bat leaning on the dresser right by the door. The weapon was an arm's length away. She could just... grab it. It could be useful too, especially since one of the team members was up.

"Sorry." She whispered before she could even stop herself and ran, bat in hand. It was a stupid thing to do, seeing as she had managed to keep quiet the whole time and was just throwing it all away. And why? To apologize to the bastard who was about to be the cause of her death? Yes, that's what she was doing, but only because she couldn't help the guilt weighing down on her chest all of a sudden. She pushed it down. If anyone had to feel guilty it was him, she kept repeating to herself, although, she remained quite aware of what she was holding oh so very tightly in her grip. It's just a baseball bat, surely he had some more. The least he could do is spare her this one...that is, if he really did wish for her to escape.

Finally, she made it to the other side, in front of the stairwell that would lead to her freedom. At this point, she had enough of tiptoeing. Clutching the bat to her side, she raced her way down. She skipped steps, not even pausing at every switch of staircase. Two floors later, she stopped before the door and set her hand on the knob. It was all one big sprint down the hall after this and then, out the side door, which was the emergency exit. If anyone stood in her way, she'd make as much good use of this bat as she could.

She twisted the handle and pushed the door open with her shoulder by two inches. A thin ray of artificial light drew itself on the grey floor of the stairwell. Her arm was going to kill her, she was certain. She held her breath, shut her eyes, pushed the door open violently with her shoulder and made a run for it. The door hit the wall with a slam behind her, she made a beeline down the hall, her footsteps echoing through the emptiness. The whole place was deserted; absolutely no one in sight. Nurse had never understood the idea of "too quiet" until now. An eerie silence reigned in the whole place, putting her on guard. The absence of noise was unnatural and frankly, a little disturbing. The only comfort it brought her was that it could only mean that no one was awake.

It had been a smooth journey downstairs and towards the emergency exit, so Nurse was definitely expecting an obstacle at any second now. She was thinking along the lines of her bandages coming undone or an alarm sounding, but definitely NOT a passed out Red Demoman laying in her way with his head pressed up against the door, aka her way out.

He reeked of alcohol and was hiccupping in his sleep. Nurse couldn't help but notice the empty bottle of an unknown liquor dangling in between his thick fingers. The stuff looked strong, but based on the Blu Demoman's ways she had the privilege of witnessing, she was sure the Red one could handle it just as well.

"Aye!" He yelped in his sleep.

Nurse gasped and backed away into the opposite wall.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, he heard her. He heard and he was waking up. He groaned as he stirred in his spot and forced open his right lid. His dark but bloodshot eyes took some time to focus and even more time to realise who exactly it was standing above him, staring down with wide, horror struck eyes.

His confused, drunken expression morphed before her, into a malicious grin, stretching over his teeth and pushing his moustache upwards to his nose. Despite how damaged his single working eye seemed, that twinkle of insanity did not fail to shine. Spy too had that same brightness in his eyes, only his was like he had procured himself a new toy to have his fun with. Demoman's, on the other hand, was somewhat different. It had a certain uncontrollable edge to it, as if somebody had just challenged him and boy was he ready to show them what he's got.

"Ohohoho, look at what we've got here!" His breath smelled like booze and his accent was coming off stronger than usual. "What do ya' think ya' doin' lass? Wanderin' aboot in –"

She had no other choice. His voice was getting louder and louder with every word he spoke. That man could wake up his whole base, if not both of them. The alcohol had already made him uncoordinated and wobbly, so hitting him right with one arm wasn't that difficult, since his reflexes weren't on his side.

Though it amazed her how easily it knocked him out. She wasn't that strong in the first place, so when she swung the bat around, she was surprised at how the Scot just fell over the second the bat was in contact with the side of his head. She gazed down at the bat and then at the unconscious body of the Demoman. That REALLY was not supposed to happen.

'How ironic,' She thought bitterly, 'that it say 'Sandman' on the bat.'

Before dashing out into the night like some superhero going to the rescue of others, Nurse made sure to check that the man was breathing right.

"What the hell are you doing." She scolded herself. Normally she should have stopped herself but the doctor in her had not died because of this misfortune and she wasn't going to let it happen now. With pride, she did her job, checking everything she could, making sure he was alright and turning him over to his side so he wouldn't choke on his own vomit.

She contemplated leaving the bat behind, but you never know. Plus, it was proof of what she was capable of, something she could take to her base and well, show off, like some kind of trophy maybe? She wasn't really sure what it took to 'impress' these people.

She shut her eyes tightly, bracing herself for whatever alarm could sound when she opened the door, but a soft creak was the only noise that warned the Red team that their prisoner was escaping.

The ice night air hit her like one big wrecking ball in the gut. She hadn't know it was this cold, especially with the temperature inside the base and the light tank top really wasn't appropriate for the almost freezing degrees it was outside. It was beyond dark too, or it would've been if it weren't for the moon and all the stars surrounding it. The night here was so much more than the nights in the city. If Nurse weren't in this situation, the scenery would've been beautiful instead of terrifying. There wasn't much she could make out but the silhouette of the base and that was good enough for her.

So she ran. She ran like the world was running after her. She felt like she was flying in nothingness, in an empty black space amongst the stars, all alone with nothing left to do but run. She wasn't aware of anything anymore. Not the cold biting and pinching at her skin, not the wound on her arm that yelled out for her attention, not even the shining heavens that were lighting her way from one hell to a lesser one.

Even when the base got fairly closer and closer, Nurse didn't slow down. She wanted it all too much to slow down. And even when her whole body slammed against the door and her arm sent waves of hurt through her, she did not make a sound. She wanted to keep running, running and running, to run all the way through that door.

With an open palm, she beat at the door, then with a closed fist and then with her knuckles as hard as she could. She wanted to cry out, make any kind of noise she could, but she was barely able to catch up with her breath, let alone shout out. She was heaving hard, she had passed her limit with the running. Standing up was starting to become a difficult task and so was inhaling. Her knees were threatening to buckle down underneath her and she would just love to finally lay down. She just needed them to see her like this: alive. Then... then she could fall apart.

She was on the edge of desperation, on the verge of clawing at the door, when it finally opened. The opening was but a foot wide when she forced it with her shoulder and clumsily slipped inside. Nurse didn't even get a glimpse of who had let her in. She was too busy slamming the door shut behind her, even before it was fully opened. Once she heard the lock click, she did not part from it. Her open palms shook against it as she slowly began to regain her ability to breathe. She shut her eyes and pressed her head against it too.

"Bleedin' Christ." The person behind her muttered under his breath. It was almost like a whisper, but loud enough for Nurse to tell how very Australian the accent was.

"MEDIC." He shouted suddenly, which was a remarkable and very sudden change in volume. That shout travelled all the through the barrier of silence inside the sleeping bases that Nurse's ears had become accustomed to. His voice boomed like waves of thunder, resonating through the base and starting a ringing in her head.

"MEDIC." He called out once more, very urgently this time.

The man was travelling halfway down the hall and then back again; calling for the doctor and checking on her. Nurse could see him from the corner of his eyes, but kept her back to him. When he received no answer, the man growled underneath his breath.

"Goddamnit... MEDIC!"

Nurse remained completely still. She wanted to just let go and finally fall apart like she was planning on to, just like she was meant to. She was tired of holding back because in the end, all that was left to do was give up and let her weak self shatter to pieces. Weren't those their intentions in the first place?

Nurse could hear Sniper running up and down the hall, the pitter-patter of his shoeless feet and his heavy breathing. She still didn't look at him. She kept her face buried in the door and her body weight pressed against it, as if someone was going to burst through at any moment and take her away, as if she was keeping the whole world out... where they couldn't see her.

The bat was still in her grasp, but she wasn't noticing it much anymore. The relief, the pain, the receding fear and the panic were all too much to handle. She wasn't aware of anything or more like she didn't want to be. She wished she could throw herself into that dark pit that was the evening sky and float away.

She heard Sniper's footsteps getting closer and then he knew he was standing behind her. Medic wasn't answering him, so why didn't he go fetch him then? She wanted his 'mentor' to see, see what she had been through and what she had brought back. She wanted to tell him all about what happened, but she knew she couldn't even speak at the moment. They could at least come down and see for themselves. Her arm should be a good enough explanation.

She felt a heavy hand settle gently on her shoulder. She wanted to panic but the energy had drained out of her. Besides, Sniper wasn't much of a threat.

He slowly turned her around. Her lowered eyes met his socks and PJ bottoms, but they weren't very interesting to look at. She pulled her gaze up and stared straight into the bushman's tired eyes, but not even close to how exhausted hers were.

Sniper looked absolutely horrified; eyes concentrated on her, a furious frown and mouth hanging open. Why was he staring at her stomach though? He looked like he was mad at her, up until he raised his own gaze to meet hers. Nurse did not spare him any more than a blank look. He would have seen more feeling in those eyes if she had been dead.

"Shit." He hissed and next thing she knew, she was being hauled over his shoulder and dashing through hallways and staircases. His shoulder jabbed into her stomach every time he took a step; she would have thrown up if she had eaten anything. Nurse could feel his large hand pressed against the small of his back and his arm wrapped around the backs of her knees. She kept one of her own arms loosely around his neck . She wished she could hold on better, but her muscles just went numb every time she tried to clench.

She watched the floor move underneath them and the bat dangle from her grip, threatening to fall,

"MEDIC!" The words exploded from his throat when they reached the second floor. The deafening noise he made was so loud, she felt the vibrations of his vocal chords on her arm, all the way through his neck. That's how she knew his voice shook. His tone was very unstable, nervous even.

Some mercenary, she thought, can't even handle seeing a bloody bandage on someone's arm.

On her part, she was struggling to keep her eyes open. She wouldn't have to for much longer, though, since one by one, she heard the clicks and creaks of bedroom doors being opened, followed by the heavy footsteps and the groans and complaints of her awakened teammates.

"Sniper. Vat is... oh."

Nurse felt herself slipping. Then, her feet met the floor and she was spun around. Sniper's grip on her shoulder disappeared, but his hands lingered above, just in case she stumbled.

She counted. All 8 pairs of eyes were on her, wearing the same mix of shocked and angry expressions, like Sniper's had been. They were all staring at her abdomen too, all except for Spy. The masked man shut his eyes, but that's about it.

"What id God's name..."

Nurse's legs began to shake and it only got worse when she finally looked down. She was wondering what everyone was staring at, but now she knew.

With the artificial light of the hall glowing, her tank top had become somewhat see through, almost like a veil. So not only did everyone now know that her bra was black, but that her entire abdomen was covered in variations and patterns of dozens of little cuts. Even her chest, even her thighs; he had cut through the denim too.

Her arms and hell, maybe even her face; red lines absolutely everywhere. It was as if somebody had drawn on her with a red ballpoint pen. The cuts were thin, but their number made Nurse sick to her stomach all over again. She felt the millions of questions surfacing in her mind and suddenly, the stab in her arm was no longer priority. She felt violated. She felt like it happened in her sleep because, fuck, she could not remember a thing anymore. Even to her, those cuts covering her skin were new.

Last thing she saw was Scout running to her. He held her face and shouted something. The sound was first to disappear, then all the feeling and finally, everything went black.

Blu Scout

It was the third time he slammed his fist into the wall, creating a new dent, aligned with the other two.

"Scout..."

"Fuck you, okay? All of you." He yelled at Engineer who had spent the last 2 hours trying to calm the young man down. It had worked for a while, in the beginning, but that image...it just kept coming back to him and it was all downhill from there.

"What the FUCK happened to her? Did you..." He paused. He could feel his voice about to crack. "Did you even see what she looked like? A fucking zombie! There wasn't an inch of her without a scratch!"

When Nurse had been announced missing the day before, Scout was the first to speak up. Obviously, his rescue plan was cruelly rejected by the rest of the team in a second. After that, Scout was on his own and not a second passed during that unbearable stretch of time where he wasn't trying to devise an escape for himself. He had to go get her. He knew he did and yet, it was incredibly hard with 8 other trained mercenaries standing in your way.

"Fuck!"

Boom. Fourth dent.

"What's taking Medic so damn long!" He wasn't thinking straight.

"Girl's in shock Scout..."

"No shit!"

He plopped himself down onto the couch, burying his face into his palms.

"Go for a walk son, we'll call you if something happens." Even Soldier's voice was sullen.

Scout didn't want to obey. He wanted to fight back. He wanted to make them feel even worse than they already did. He wanted to stay there and yell at them, but being alone suddenly sounded like a much better idea than being stuck in a room full of people you want to punch. As he left, he made it a point to slam the door behind him.

He stepped out into the quiet hallway, its air free of other people's guilt. It was refreshing, it was kind of hot in that room anyway. Unfortunately, his sought out solitude did not last long when he heard a second pair of footsteps, other than his own, coming from right behind him. Being trained for such situations, Scout was not the least bit startled or panicked. From the corner of his eye, he could already see that the hallway behind him was completely empty. He sighed.

"No use fucking cloaking, I know you're there."

He turned around just as Spy materialized in front of him. He did not say a word and instead, stared at Scout with a solid gaze. Spy never showed any emotion, Scout knew that, but for some reason, at that moment, he wanted to punch him in the face. Maybe it was because it was so unbalanced. He himself was so upset and yet the man in front of him had a heart of stone. When the man really showed no sign of speaking, Scout grit his teeth.

"Try being a little more quiet next time."

This taunt at least got a chuckle out of him. A sarcastic one of course, but a chuckle nonetheless.

"Boy, if I didn't want to be noticed, I wouldn't have been." His French accent made even his snootiest comments even snootier. This man was probably the most arrogant being Scout had ever met, including himself. He had every right to be, because no one could deny how well Spy really did his job, but it was still unnecessary sometimes. This was one of those times.

"Then what the hell do you want?"

Spy pretended to be cleaning the dirt underneath his fingernails with cliché nonchalance. "To talk. That is all."

Scout wanted to be mad at him. Scout wanted to yell at him and say that it was all his fault that Nurse, the one person he was magically able to talk to honestly, was all cut up. And because he couldn't, for reasons that he denied, Scout settled on sneering at him.

"Just because you love someone, doesn't give you the right to be a little bitch." He said, snatching out a cigarette from the pack he kept up his sleeve.

"You're a fucking asshole, you know that? You SAW what she looked like, French bastard. I don't love her, so don't go making up shit. Would you treat a girl like that? Enemy or not, that's disgusting." Scout spat in the other man's face. With every word, he strode closer, just until their chests were dangerously close. He was shorter than the Frenchman but not by much, so if he was trying to be intimidating it wasn't going to work because Scout was ready to punch that emotionless smoker straight in the jaw.

"Oh please." Rolling his eyes, he dropped the butt and put it out with his shoe. "It wasn't that bad."

His arm darted out, grabbing the taller man by the neck and slamming him into the nearest wall. He would choke him. He would if he made him. One more word, that's all it took.

Scout stared straight at him, his nose inches away from his. His breathing was hard and unlike the man he was holding up against the wall, he was anything but calm, which defeated the purpose of stepping out there in the first place. He was already pissed off, so what the hell was this guy trying to do? What was the goddamn point of provoking him even further?

"Say that again Frenchie, I fucking dare you." He hissed, squeezing a little harder.

His teeth were so tightly clenched that he felt like they were going break. He hated how relaxed Spy was. He hated how his dark blue-gray eyes shamelessly stared right back at him. He hated how the corner of his lips curled into an amused smirk. He hated how the soft skin of his neck felt underneath his palm. He hated how Spy was the one pinned against the wall and yet was fully in control. Scout hated how the more he stared at him, the more his mouth went dry, the more his eyes lost their fury , the more he sweat and the more his cheeks turned red. He hated how his grip was loosening without him wanting it to. He hated how he wanted to lean in and just...

Spy's smirk stretched wider and his eyes bore deeper and deeper through Scout. The Frenchman's gaze darted downward to Scout's trembling wrist, then right back up to meet the boy's again.

"That bad, huh?"

At those words, Scout's eyelids flew open. His hand fell back to his side as an uncomfortable shiver ran down his spine. What did he just... What had he –

"Scout!" A voice called from down the hall. It was Medic. "You may see her now."

The sudden use of his name grasped his attention. Medic was leaning against the doorframe of the infirmary, his eyes darkened and tired. He wasn't wearing his lab coat, just the vest and rubber gloves, soaked in red only at the fingertips.

Scout didn't bother turning around to get one last glimpse at Spy because he was well aware that the Frenchman had cloaked himself the second he heard the Medic coming. The sneaky bastard... those last words he spoke would stay with him for a while, until he figured out what they meant, or until Nurse was healthy enough to tell him herself. She had once pointed out how much he overanalysed certain things, making Scout slowly realise that he needed her more than he had thought.

He ran the short distance to the infirmary, only to be stopped at the threshold by Medic. His arm darted out in front of him the second he was about to enter the room. His chest hit him hard, but of course, the German did not even flinch.

"She is in shock." He informed her. "She is not speaking very much. All I know for sure is that she was tortured and cannot remember a thing of it except for that one stab on her arm she tended to herself. I have no idea where she got the materials to do so and I have no idea who's responsible for the damage." He paused and sighed exaggeratedly. "I informed her that you wished to go and save her. I thought it was only fair to mention it." Medic's tone was soft for once. Even from behind his specs, Scout could tell the doctor felt at least a little guilty.

The arm was removed, letting Scout through. He didn't have to look around for very long because Nurse was laying on the very first bed one would lay eyes on when entering the infirmary. In fact, she wasn't even laying. The younger girl sat on the edge of the bed with her feet dangling over the floor. She had a brand new bandage wrapped around what Scout figured was that big stab wound Medic was talking about and stitches on her lower lip. She had exchanged her bloody and tattered clothing for sweatpants and a T-shirt. Scout was relieved to see that there were no longer tiny cuts along her arms and was even more relieved when he was rewarded the tiniest of smiles when Nurse finally noticed him.

"Hey..." He muttered, gently wrapping his arms around her. For a second, Nurse was still and then responded to the hug. She gripped at his clothes tightly and buried her face into his shoulder. "I tried." Scout whispered. "I swear I did."

"I know..."

The sight of her was sad. Sad and broken. Scout didn't really know what else to say or what to do even. He sat down next to her and waited. She wasn't crying and it didn't look like she would either. Crying women were always so easy to deal with it. All you had to do was pat them on the back and tell them that everything was going to be okay. This was different, though. He'd be lying if he told her it was alright, because it wasn't. She was still stuck here. She wasn't safe and in less than 2 days, she would have to start working again unless Medic suddenly became very, very merciful.

"Your cuts are gone." He said softly.

"Medic used the gun on me... so it won't scar." She didn't sound like herself at all.

"What about that bandage."

"It was too late for that. It's gonna have to heal on its own."

She wouldn't meet his eyes. She kept her gaze down, staring into emptiness, frozen. He put his arm around her, but that didn't make much of a difference. At least she didn't shrug him off.

They sat in silence for a while longer, but Scout didn't mind. He would give her all the time she needed, even if in the end she didn't say anything else. Well, that was his plan until he saw something leaning against the night table; something he hadn't noticed before.

"Is that my Sandman?" He couldn't help but ask, his tone leaving his mouth with an unwanted hint of irritation.

"Not yours." She replied.

"Excuse me?"

"Red Scout's Sandman."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." He got up and stood in font of her, his arms waving around. "You stole the other Scout's Sandman?"

Her eyes dragged themselves upwards to the boy's face. She spoke, her lips barely moving and her voice, cold as ice.

"It was necessary."

"Ha! Fuck necessary! That's awesome!" He didn't want to sound so excited during such a hard time for her, but just the thought of that Red rat bastard waking up without his favourite bat in its rightful place was way too perfect to just let pass.

She took a deep breaths. "Like I said: it was necessary."

"How come? Oh shit, did you use it?"

She nodded. "Scout..."

"Yeah?"

"I think... I think I need to tell you what happened."

Scout's smile dropped and his face became very serious. He sat back down next to her, bringing his knees up to his chest, in his favourite listening position.

"Of course."

She told him absolutely everything. Not a single detail was tossed aside in the story. She was speaking very quickly, but Scout never cut her off or interrupted. He listened intently, slowly developing a new found hatred for a few members of the Red team, specifically for a certain French jackass. When the narrative ended, he had a million questions in mind, but those weren't his priority.

"Nurse... I'm really, really sorry. You know that."

"Yes."

"But I have to tell the others about this."

"No, Scout please, I –"

"Nurse." He brought his hands up to her face, cupping her cheeks in his taped palms. "You don't understand. Those other guys, they don't think you're capable. They don't think you're good enough." He chuckled. "They don't know how wrong they are."

She shut her eyes and grabbed on to Scout's wrist.

"Nurse, they have to know."

Scout stood with his arms crossed over his chest and a smug smile playing on his lips when he finished retelling Nurse's story. His teammates were shocked, some letting their mouths hang open while others shook their heads in disbelief.

"How does it feel to be oh so very wrong?" He asked them. He had been the only one not to share that 'damsel in distress' opinion of Nurse. He had known they were wrong since the second they decided to confront Medic about it, but now, this just proved it. They didn't answer his question, but their expressions were enough to please Scout.

He had left Nurse, promising her that he would be back soon and now that he told the story, he was ready to leave. That is, if Spy would decide to shut his mouth for once in his life.

"She is in trouble." He said from the corner of the room.

All the attention suddenly shifted onto him. Scout sometimes wondered if the man actually WAITED for everyone to be silent to speak up. He was sure he enjoyed being so damn dramatic all the time. All eyes were now on him, except for Scout who, after what happened with the Frenchman earlier, couldn't bare to meet those metallic eyes.

"What d'ya mean?"

"By escaping, she had created conflict between the member of Red."

"What in God's name are ya' talkin' 'bout."

"Think, you idiots. She outsmarted at least 4 members of the Red team, they won't take kindly to that, I assure you. She talked back to the Sniper, she used the Medic's technique against him, she taunted the Spy with that message and she stole the Scout's favourite bat, not to mention she whacked the Demoman with that same bat. Do you really think that they will not come after her?"

The room went silent. If it hadn't, no one would have probably heard what Engineer mumbled under his breath. Even the surprised face he made after he said it proved that he hadn't meant that to be heard by the rest.

"I know someone who's after her." He chuckled to himself in a sing song voice.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" The Spy crossed his arms over his chest.

The spotlight shifted to Engineer, who clearly did not do very good when put on the spot. The Texan scratched the back of his head nervously, maintaining his good natured smile.

"Ya'll are blind as bats." He said shaking his head. "Are ya' seriously telling me that nobody found it even the least bit weird that that Red Scout would let her escape?"

"Weren't you listening ya' dumb Truckie? It was all a trick." Sniper chimed in.

"She don't know that. What proof is there?" He got up and leaned on the wall behind him. Engineer could easily say that he was the least socially awkward one of them all and that by a long shot. He could see that none of his teammates could tell where he was really going with this. Well, maybe Spy, but that spook didn't really seem to give a damn.

"Scout. If we had a prisoner in here, girl or boy, it don't matter, would you let him out just for the sake of screwin' with 'em?"

"No, then I'd just be an asshole, but that don't mean shit. I'm not like the other Scout!"

"Ah, ah, ah, ya' only sayin' that 'cause he's the enemy. What ya'll need to start understanding is that these teams were made equally. My values are the same as the Red Engineer's. Heavy's strength is equivalent to the Red one's and so on and so on."

Many of the team members weren't very pleased with Engineer's deduction, all with them being compared to their rivals, but if they were to trust anyone's word, it'd have to be the Texan's.

"Now tell me somethin' else. Scout, if we had a prisoner in here, would ya' risk your own skin tryin' to save them?"

"No way! I'd never betray –"

Engineer grinned as comprehension dawned on a few of his teammates faces.

"Christ..." Sniper laughed, rubbing at his temples.

Looking around the room, Scout knew that a lot of them were starting to understand Engineer's train of thought and hence, sharing the opinion. Medic was frowning in disapproval, but not even a blind person could miss the playful smirk playing on his lips. Sniper had clearly understood, Spy probably already knew and as for the rest, clueless as ever.

"But he did..." Scout finished off the sentence, pointing out the obvious.

Engineer, grin still plastered on his face, peeled himself off the wall and crossed the room, heading for the exit. As he walked by Scout, he slapped a large hand over the boy's shoulder and gave him a friendly smirk.

"And what does that tell us about him, hm?"

A little more than we bargained for, Scout wanted to answer, but instead, remained frozen in place as the rest of his teammates left the room one by one.

"Keep an eye on zat Red Scout. I do not vant him pulling a Romeo in the middle of the night!" The Medic ordered at the team.

Yeah, right, Scout thought. "Holding Nurse back from ripping his throat out would be the real problem." He muttered and was the last to leave.

Blu Sniper

He had seen a whole lot of gore in his life, some of it being his own doing, but there was something different about Nurse. The lines were so thin, barely leaking out with blood and she looked so broken, it was almost beautiful. Hell, Sniper would've liked to call that art, if the idea of it weren't so horrible.

'Brave lil' thing, ain't she.' He was thinking to himself as Scout told them the story. It took a lot of gut to do what she did. Taunting a Spy like that was a dangerous move to make and she will be regretting it soon as well, but it was still something worth admiring.

But it was what Engineer had pointed that had peeked his interest. The second he understood what the Texan was implying, his eyes darted to the Spy who, surely enough, was already looking at him. The Frenchman glanced at the door and nodded; looks like they would be having another talk tonight as well.

When everybody left, Sniper didn't even bother waiting for another signal and headed straight for Spy's room. The door was left open, meaning the man's mind was somewhere else, analysing and processing; he never forgot such basic tasks, like locking the door.

"Hey spook, you in here?"

He was, but of course, was too busy pacing and mumbling to himself to notice the bushman walk in.

"Would you calm down. So they both like the Nurse, who cares? Doesn't concern you, mate."

"If only you were right, my stupid friend." He muttered.

"Gee thanks." Sniper rolled his eyes. "Anything you wanna tell me, or am I just here to watch you think?"

"Both." He finally stopped pacing and turned to the Australian. "Engineer is right about the Red Scout. It is the only explanation."

"I can think of a few." Sniper mumbled to himself, a little disgruntled.

"Don't think, it doesn't suit you. Anyway, I had a little confrontation with our Scout earlier. I'm afraid I might have...provoked him a little bit." He said, smirking like a mad man.

"You know, you look real crazy when you smile like that." Sniper sighed. "So you pissed him off...then?"

"My theory was correct." He said solemnly, as if it were such a burden.

"You know what spook? I think you're taking shots in the dark here. You went ahead and pissed the kid off, more than he already was. How did that give ya' answers? You're just talkin' bullshit mate."

"You idiot, I do not take shots in the dark! And even if I did, I never miss." He said cockily. "As I said, I provoked him. He attacked me and well... we were standing quite close."

"Oh, how bloody romantic." Sniper cut in with sarcasm.

"Shut up, bushman. The boy hesitated. He shook and his gaze wavered. He had me in his grasp and yet, was terrified. He might even know that I know."

Sniper grunted and took his hat off, running his hands through his hair. He was fucking tired, especially after having been woken up by a zombie Nurse in the middle of the night. As if that weren't enough, now he had to deal with what was starting to become a 2fort soap opera.

"Listen Spy, I don't know why you're dragging me into your weird dramas here, but I would really like you to stop. So only one of the Scouts is into Nurse, or maybe even sheilas in general, what does that have to do with me?"

"I need your help. I need more information and it will become obvious if I continue on trying to get it myself. You have to talk to the girl for me."

"And what the hell am I supposed to tell her?"

"Just talk to her. Ask her how she is feeling. She spends a good amount of her time with Scout, she's our number one source. I need to know as much as I can, bushman!"

There was a pause where nobody said a word. Spy lost it a little bit there, during that last sentence. He usually kept his control very well, but lately he has been fidgeting and snapping at him every single time he called him over for another 'talk'.

"Why?" He challenged the Frenchman, smirking and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Why what?"

"Why do you need to know so bad? Why are you so obsessed with this? Have somethin' in mind, do ya'?" He teased, waggling his brows.

"I do not understand what you are implying and neither do I want to because I get the feeling I won't like it very much. I will have you know that it is just out of a combination of my curiosity and my boredom. Nothing more."

"Sooooo... you're not interested in the boy...? In that way..."

"And what if I was?"

"Would be kind of fucked up to see..."

"Who told you to look, bushman?"

A/N. I have so many ideas for my next chapter, but they have absolutely nothing to so with each other XD. I'm going to have to find a way to mesh them all together, plus we get to see a little more of the other characters...maybe, if I manage to make any sense of it all. I've been getting such awesome and helpful reviews from you guys, so I hope they don't stop =)