Of course, it's not just snipers that have to deal with spies...


'That new Spy, huh?' someone said as Sniper walked back to base, deep in thought. He looked up with a start to find Engineer sorting through a wreck of sentry pieces.

'Little frog thinks he can get away with anything here. Been playing dirty with me.'

'Yeah,' Sniper agreed.

It was hard to tell but Engineer's eyes seemed to focus on him then.

'You too? Well, that's just not on. Not on at all.' Beneath his gunslinger, the metal piece he was holding began to warp. 'Been going easy on him since he's just a greenhorn, but I think it's about time I taught him a lesson or two. What do yah say?'

Sniper just nodded but didn't say anything. Yes, that was probably a good idea. Can't have some BLU running amok. All the same time, something twisted up inside him. Sniper wasn't sure what the emotion was. He couldn't be feeling protective, that wasn't right. Territorial maybe? That seemed closer but Sniper hoped it wasn't. It didn't sound healthy.


The next day's battle started out far better for Spy. He managed to avoid the Pyro and he wasn't plagued by headshot after headshot. He was feeling far more optimistic about BLU winning this time. He wanted to break RED's winning streak. Humiliation rounds were not something he wanted to go through again.

Spotting Engineer working hard at upgrading a sentry, Spy flipped out his knife and headed towards him. He didn't need to bother with the cloak if the man was working hard; he felt as though he'd almost been overusing the technology he'd been given. Sometimes it was just nice to stick with the basics and murder men the way he used to.


Engineer hummed happily to himself as he worked. The advantage of his goggles was that even if someone had been looking at his face, they would have missed the way the Engineer's pupils slid to the right as he listened carefully.

One...

Two...

Three!

He pivoted around with more speed than most would expect from his stature, and cracked the Spy around the side of the head. The Spy slumped wordlessly to the floor, knife clattering down next to him. Engineer kicked it away, just in case, and knelt down to make sure the Spy wasn't dead or faking. It was a lot harder to knock a guy out then they made out in the movies, but Engineer had had plenty of practice.

The Spy was definitely alive; Engineer could see his chest rising and falling. Definitely unconscious though; Engineer pried one of the Spy's eyelids open to find a vacant, out of focus eye staring at the ceiling.

Perfect. Now to arrange things exactly how he wanted his guest to wake up to them. He started with moving his sentry, positioning it carefully. Next the dispenser. That took some work, considering his modifications to it. Once he was happy about it, he gathered up the baling twine he'd stuffed behind a crate at the start of the match, and used it to tie the Spy securely to the front of the dispenser. Engineer was no boy scout but he knew his knots.

Now he just had to wait for the little frog to wake up again. Engineer hoped it would happen before the fighting headed his way.

Spy woke with a whimper. His head felt like it was splitting. His attempt to cradle his head was cut short by the ropes around his arms. Panic fluttered in his chest but he tried to keep calm, to keep his breaths slow and his face showing nothing.

It was hard to turn his head without pain, but he managed, slowly. He was tied to a dispenser. There wasn't enough slack for him to get to the knots. He gave a quick jerk of his arms to see if he could loosen anything but nothing gave. Wriggling slowly, he started trying to work his hands up his body to get them out of the ropes. It was not going well.

Where was the Engineer? He couldn't see him from this angle, nor could he hear him. The battle was still going on outside but it wasn't close enough for him to hail any of his teammates… and even if it was, he wasn't sure they would come to his rescue.


Engineer heard a small noise of pain and turned from scanning the battlefield back to the dispenser. A smile spread across his face as he meandered over to the dispenser, wrench in hand. He cracked it against the top of the building to get the Spy's attention. He leant over it so the Spy would be able to see him if he craned his head back 'Ah, Sleeping Beauty's awake, is she? Took you long enough. You nearly got blown up by one of your own teammates while you were asleep and that's the kind of thing I don't want you to miss.

'See, I've got my ol' level three sentry set up behind you. It can't see you because of the dispenser but it'll be able to shoot any other BLU who tries coming to your rescue. Not that they will. And that's because if any of them look over from their side of the battlefield, they're gonna see this lovely big red dispenser sitting here. But do you know what they ain't gonna see? Two things. One: my sentry. Two: you.' Engineer broke off with a chuckle, tapping his wrench against the top of his building. 'And what do you think they're gonna do when they see this nice ol' dispenser set up here?'

"Blow me up, I'm sure," the Spy laughed. "Is this your idea of revenge? I was warned by one of your teammates to be careful," well, not particularly of the Engineer, but the Sniper had warned him so it was only half a lie.

But still, he was getting used to getting blown up and shot and dying. Once he was killed he'd simply respawn and be able to target the Engineer again. What sort of plan was that for someone who was supposed to be some sort of genius?

Engineer chuckled low. 'Sounds like someone's looking out for you there. Pity the warning came too late. See, boy. We're disposable. We all are. Don't let respawn trick you into thinking we aren't. The Administrator don't care who lives or dies, so long as her war's fought. So she won't give a damn about having to replace you. Easy come, easy go. Don't let my big ol' friendly smile fool yah, I've done it before.'

There was nothing friendly, however, about the smile Engineer was giving the BLU Spy

Spy's smirk disappeared as the threat slowly became clear to him. "So this is merely a warning," he clarified.

It would stand to reason that if anyone could remove him from respawn, it would be an Engineer. And perhaps it would be wise to tread more delicately around this one from now on.

'Hmm, could be. Could be, I guess. I went to an awful lot of trouble to set this up, yah know. Lotta work just for a warning. But if we strike a deal, maybe I'll let you off this one time. You might have to think fast about this one though. Yah see, when one of your team mates come round that corner and blows up this lovely little dispenser, they're gonna blow you up. And you aint gonna be coming back. Not this time.'

The response to that sort of threat was instantaneous. Spy could not afford to take the chance that this man was bluffing. He did not know him well enough and his life was too valuable.
"What sort of deal?" Spy asked, tugging at the ropes a little, now far more concerned by the approaching sounds of battle.

'Hmm, let's see,' Engineer said with exaggerated slowness, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

'First of all: no garrottes, period. If I hear of you using that little bit of wire you like so much on any of my teammates, you're not gonna be getting a warning next time. Second: clean up your act. I'm not gonna put up with you tryin' to use any of these nasty little traps on me again. Third: learn some respect, boy. Me and the other's have been goin' easy on you 'cos your just a little newbie. That will change.

'Agree to all three and we'll have a deal. Break any of them though and... we'll have to have this little talk again sometime.'

Spy's thoughts raced as he considered his options. He could refuse and possibly die, which was not an option at all. He could accept those terms and perhaps find himself at the mercy of the Sniper who would be feeling vengeful. Or he could lie and figure it out later, which was the best option he could see at the moment.

"I accept! Untie me."

Ridiculous, this pudgy little man calling him 'boy' like he was not every bit as dangerous. Though he would make efforts to appear more above board, he would find the weaknesses of these men -and especially this man- and make them suffer for it.

'Glad to hear it. That bit about untying you though...nah. You've caused too much trouble already, boy. I'll fix thing so you come back, don't you worry. Don't you worry 'bout a thing.'

Engineer left the dispenser with a final chuckle and retreated away. He went far enough that the Spy would think his footsteps had faded naturally into the distance, but not far enough away that he wouldn't see the dispenser explode if it happened any time soon. He really had gone to a lot of trouble to set all this up after all, even if the special 'modifications' he'd made to the dispenser only included some heavy cement at the bottom to stop the Spy from shifting it, and some explosive charged donated to him by Demoman. Demoman was always generous when it came to giving to a good cause. As long as it was explosives you needed and the cause was the death of an enemy.

That nasty little Spy though, he really was green for all his posturing and fancy kills. Engineer hadn't even got as far as trying to convince him that it was a glitch with friendly fire that would end him permanently before the frog had started to get all hot under the collar.

Engineer had spent time trying to come up with a convincing lie to spin about how respawn worked and failed, and in the end he hadn't even needed to use it. Just the suggestion that he could somehow tamper with respawn had been enough to scare the BLU into submission. He hoped.

Either Engineer was a better liar than he'd pegged himself as, or he'd really got the menacing act down right. The latter came easier to him than the former.

The sounds of battle were approaching in earnest now. Engineer decided he'd been away long enough to pretend he'd done whatever was needed to 'fix' respawn, and tramped back towards the Spy. He didn't want the BLU to think he was trying to sneak back over. No reason to make him suspicious.

Engineer stopped a short way behind his sentry to wait for the main event.

The Engineer wasn't going to untie him! Spy fought the ropes furiously but of course the good ole boy knew his knots. There wasn't any way he was going to get out before the battle reached them.

The Engineer walked away and Spy listened attentively, both to the battle that was nearing his location rather alarmingly, and to the man's footsteps as they faded. He wasn't gone long and despite himself Spy nearly drowned in relief.

"There's no need to keep me here, we have struck a deal. I will play by your rules," he practically snarled, his shoulders hurting from fighting his bonds.

The new BLU Spy reminded Engineer less of a frog and more of a cat right now. A cornered little cat, hissing and spitting and snarling and frightening absolutely no one. It made Engineer hesitate. It made him think. When had he become the kind of man who took enjoyment from threatening and scaring someone like this?

Truth be told, he'd always had a mean streak. Wouldn't have got arrested in college for GBH if he didn't. But Engineer had always had his own moral code. When had that all fallen away?

It also occurred to him that the more he riled and upset the Spy, the more the BLU would want revenge, deal or no deal.

All the same, he couldn't allow himself to appear soft in front of the Spy. Men like him would do their best to prey on any perceived weakness, real or not.

'Hmm, you know what, ask nicely and I might let you go just this time. Though don't go expecting any kind of mercy if you try anything funny again with me, boy.'

Spy watched the man's face flicker through emotions. Whatever Engineer was, he couldn't hide how he felt easily, which was good to know. What was that, regret? Why on earth would he feel regretful for cornering an enemy and teaching him a lesson? As angry -and admittedly frightened- as Spy was, that made no sense to him. Engineer had every right to trap him and even torture him. They were enemies.

"Please," he said simply, not sure what Engineer expected.

Well. That was surprisingly easy. 'All right then,' Engineer said. Then he walked away without another word. It was actually just so he could get temporarily disable his sentry so the Spy wouldn't get shot to piece the moment he stood up, but no reason to tell the BLU that.

He pressed the forefinger of his right hand underneath what looked like the space for a screw on the underneath of his sentry. There was a fingerprint scanner there, coded to only accept his prints. Then there was a small click and a small stab of pain as a needle pricked his finger. A disguise kit could mimic his prints but it couldn't mimic his DNA.

To any outsider, the sentry appeared to be working perfectly normally. It was still scanning the area in front of it and beeping. If an enemy ran in front of it it would also swing around to meet them. It just wouldn't shoot them, not until Engineer reset it again.

He walked back over to the dispenser. He would have liked to take his time, to really make the BLU Spy fret, but he'd heard a rocket go off nearby. Not much time left.

He reached the dispenser and un-looped the end of the twine. He gave it a firm tug and every knot holding the Spy in place unravelled. When the RED Engineer said he really knew his knots, he meant it.

'There you go. Now, I don't want to see hide nor hair of you for the rest of the day, got it? And if you're thinking of trying anything, forget it. I've got a pistol here with your name on it.'

Spy stood and threw off the ropes, bolting. He was pleased and surprised that this had worked out. It had only taken a please and he was free. Even the sentry didn't fire at him.

Still shaken and full of nervous energy, Spy didn't stop running until he could barely hear the battle. He'd recover for a moment before getting back into it. And he'd tread more carefully around the Engineer.

Engineer watched him go, eyes narrowed behind his goggles. He wasn't about to let the little snake circle back around to stab him in the back. The Spy hared off away from him though, showing every signs of just wanting to get away. It was awfully tempting to shoot him in the back.

But Engineer resisted, leaving himself alone with a disabled sentry gun and a dispenser full of concrete and explosives.

'Ah.'