Finally, the other team members make an appearance. I should think of better chapter titles...
Please forgive the awful accents... I try...
The Team questions the Engineer
"So there is a GIRL is the da base?" Scout quipped hopefully.
Soldier stood straight in the middle of the room. His inert gaze noted the Scout's question.
"No. Some wussy hippie apparently just strolled in the dead of the nigh-"
"But you said 'Girl'. We all heard ya!"
Soldier tried again, "I said, that our Engineer mistaken he was-"
"Whas Engie has anything to do with it?"
The Soldier straight posture fell in to an annoyed hunch as he stopped to glare at the young man.
"Shut it and listen to his story then!" snapped the Demoman, lounging on one of the sofas scattered around the common area. Soldier straightened up again.
"Good, now as I was saying-"
"Are you sure there isn't a girl?"
"He's a Hippy. A lowly hippy hired by BLU! Or one of those peace-enthused organizations to infiltrate our base and take us down."
"That would imply he's some type a killing professional." Sniper was sitting in a red armchair next to a giant potted plant. He leaned forward.
"Now, if I know anything 'bout hit jobs, which I do have intensive knowledge of, everything that twit did was very defectively bad. I mean, I can think of least 50 ways to kill the whole lot without even setting foot in the goddamn bloody buildin'!"
"I can agree with you on two things; that you're a wack-job and that the hippy is failed his mission miserably."
Sniper scowled from his seat, He crossed his arms.
"Where's Engin'er?"
"Our Engineer is in process of interrogating the outsider."
Scout looked shocked. He sat in a wicker chair located in front of Demoman's sofa.
"You didn' ask us?"
"You left him alone with him? Was the Engineer think he can do? Give em' a drink and talk aboot th' weather?" muttered Demoman from under his arm he had draped across his face.
"Affirmative. Although I have no confidence that he will receive any satisfactory answers, he deems himself the one to get the job done. And I stand firmly behind any of the assertion of fellow troops-"
"You just wanted to stuff your face with sugar!" The Medic growled, not looking up from a magazine he was reading. He sat at the only table in the room. Next to him, Heavy Weapons Guy sat pensively. Pyro sat quietly at the other end, the very end the Soldier was approaching.
"You let him go too! If you really wanted to question the prisoner, you should have gone and done it instead!"
"I would have... Wenn ich war nicht so ungeeigne."
Demoman removed his arm and replaced his his palms on his eyes muttering about 'everyone, arses and crowscrews'. At that moment, Engie strolled in. He wasn't whistling nor was he smiling.
Demoman opened his one eye and noticed.
"ENGINEER! Thank sister of st. abbey! Would you tell us what the hell is going on! Soldier say's there's a prisoner and that you said he was a lass-"
"It's the cameras..." muttered the Engineer; he scanned the sea of chairs and other sitting devices for Medic. He spotted him.
"Medic, why didn't you-"
"Ich Sie nicht verstehen. Ich habe Kopfschmerzen." Medic responded stubbornly, still engrossed in his reading. Heavy raised an eyebrow.
Engineer sighed and waved everyone who was standing to take a seat.
"Okay, let's settle down. I'm sure you wanna know what happened."
"Damn right we do. We just wan' to settle this so we could finish Gilligan." Sniper acknowledged bitterly.
Several murmurs of agreement followed. Engie assumed that Soldier and Medic didn't make anything clear for the rest of the team, so he began his tale.
"Anyhoo, last night, while you were all sleeping, someone was discovered-"
"Was it a-"
"No, a fella. So, Solly found 'im wondering around the loading dock after he heard the alarm-"
"I was completing my nightly rounds. I merely acted swiftly when the alarm blared."
"Yeah, I heard that all the way from my van."
"Yeah, god damn that frickin' bell is loud! I thought you were gunna get rid of it."
"Da!"
"I kno'!"
More responses followed until Engineer intervened.
"It was just doing its job. And besides, there really was someone creeping around. So, while all of you were sleeping, not getting up to help, I got up to turn it off. I saw Soldier on the video tackling on what LOOKED like-" he put his hands up for emphasis
"I didn't know the details; I just THOUGHT he was a she. I ran in, pulled 'im off, Solly hit him with his shovel, we went to Medic."
He paused to allow Medic to add anything to the story, but he didn't. Engie continued,
"Doc patched him up, we stuck 'im in one of the closets and I waited till morning to talk to him."
"Iz he a BLU?" asked Heavy
"Nah, just someone who wandered in. The boys jumpier then a doe caught in a leg-trap. An' a mouth dirtier than an outhouse toilet seat. Real hard to get any frank answers from him too."
"Shoot him back to Canada I say! He's toying with us like a madman's plaything!" Soldier proclaimed.
"Real problem is I can't understand waht he's talkin' bout most the time. But know for a fact he doesn't work for BLU. He even seems more confused than we are, but... I can't help but think he knows more then he claims. But mad? Yah, he's gone completely up creek."
"Insanity is the finest trait you can ask for in an emissary. Isn't that right Spy?"
Spy was sitting in a rocking chair, wrenched in the dark corner. He rocked ominously back and forth slowly, exhaling clouds of smoke in the shadows. Using the vacant television as a stand to put his ashtray, he leaned forward slightly, his calm glaze pinpointed on the Soldier.
"I'm a Spy. What's your excuse?"
"He's not a Spah." Engie said flatly.
Spy leaned back into his chair to cross his legs.
"Oh, and I zuppose you're the distinguished master of knowledge about spies. Tell me, what makes you think he's not a spy?"
"Cause he ate all the food I gave him. Well, all but the ham...but that's beside the point; no Spah, even the brainless ones, would eat enemy food. It's not practical!"
"Ze Scout would eat it."
"Hey!"
"Bloody Spies..."
"Which iz my point ezactly... He doesn't have to be a Spy to work for BLU."
Engineer sighed in frustration, "He isn't a Spy. He doesn't act nor does he look like a BLU... but then again, none of what he said could deny it either."
Scout chuckled darkly. "I could get him to yap. Me and battie can get him cracked in no time at all."
"He's already cracked. He acts like I'm gunna rip 'im through an organic shredder he's so scared. It's real difficult to get one answer out of him."
Engineer braced himself on a chair, staring into the adjacent wall across the room scratching the back of his neck.
"This whole thing is just damn mind boggling."
"Did you figure how he got past our defences? Like the zewers?" Spy asked, slightly pacing the room.
"Nah, the sewers only open during battles ever since those rainstorms last fall. Remember? All that water?"
"Oh yeah, that totally did a numba on the basement."
"Did we ever get that appraised?
"I think that stuffy fat guy in that Fordillac did...
"Za prizoner! Za prizoner!" Medic hissed, still pretending not to be involved.
"Yeah Doc. There is no way he could have just got in here... Everything is locked up."
The Solider raised his hand in triumph.
"All but the Entry bay door!"
"Hey, that was open wasn't it? Well, that solves that."
"Didja check his feet?"
"Wha was that?"
Sniper continued "The entire perimeter is surrounded by electrical fences. Unless he didn't dug for several hours under the fence, or leaped 9 feet above it, he would still have to walk 3 hours from the road to get here. Now, Soldier you were tellin' us that he's a hippy 'cause he wasnin wearing any shoes. Anyone walking that far without proper foot attire would get real bloody bad bruises."
Soldier scowled and sat back down
"Huh, his feet looked fine... in fact, he doesn't look dirty at all... but his hair..."
"Not unless he has some sort of portable teleportation device." Droned Spy.
"Couldn't we just shoot him in the noggin and be done with it." The Scout groaned loudly as he fell against his chair with a heave.
Engineer scoffed
"I'd done that by now if he was a BLU, I just don't know for sure is all. I don't want to kill a civilian and have HQ ticked off by all the questioning. Might hinder my workgraft."
"Hey Heavy, tell 'em bout that doodad you showed me."
"Silence scout!" Heavy hissed menacly.
All eyes were on Heavy.
"What? What didja find?"
Heavy stared ahead and sulked back stubbornly. He had something hiding behind his back.
"I found nothing."
"Heavy! Your confidentiality is restricting our ability to finishing this mystery! I order you, as the only Soldier in the room, to hand over whatever you have hiding behind your back!"
Heavy waited a minute grumbled and extended his muscular arm where he showed out a pillow case. He removed a black, square object from it and tossed it gently on the table.
"I found funny book."
Engie picked it up carefully, with Soldier and Scout peering at it at his shoulder. Demoman, Pyro and Sniper craned their necks to observe from their spots with Spy walking gracefully towards the table. Even Medic expressed interest by standing up to have a better look at the foreign object.
"Well dang, that isn't a book! That's something from the Twilight Zone"
Engineer opened it up like it was a book; it had a strange black soft glass like window on one side, with the other side, numbers, letters and other odd symbols each on an individual button on the other. The screen had giant fingerprint smudges and the odd buttons had pieces of bread and chocolate stuck in-between them. There was a label on the bottom, covered in spots of purple, most probably that disgusting soda Scout likes.
"Spah, come an' look at this won't you?"
Spy approached; with gentle fingers, he peered at the device, flipping it around, looking for secret compartments, softly grazing the buttons, even pressing a few. He seemed rather disappointed that they didn't do anything.
Finally he gave his evaluation
"It iz not spy technology I know of. 'Eavy, where did you find zhis?"
"You said you culd keep secret." Heavy growled at Scout
"'Eavy, where did you find zhis?"
Heavy turned his head slightly towards the Spy, his annoyed expression unchanged.
"I found id near Respawn after bloody battle few days ago."
Spy continued to examine it, testing the strange push-able keys again.
"I'm ztarting to think this device has something to do with our guest-"
"Prizoner"
"-it is my guess that this man is conning us all. I agree with our ingénieur that 'e is not a hand from BLU, but either working under an unknown superior, or his own agend-"
"That's a crock of bull; there is no one but BLU." Spat Sniper.
Engineer looked towards the corner where Sniper was sitting contently. He glanced up and noticed the ominous camera planted on the ceiling, watching their every move.
A huge grin grew on his face.
"The tapes! Why didn't I think of that! The cameras record everything!"
Without instructions to the others of his venture, he bolted out the room. Soldier stood up straight and extended his finger into the air
"Everyone! Flock to the Security room post haste!"
The only one who followed was Scout. The room grew quiet and still. Spy gave a glare at Sniper before returning to his spot in the corner. Sniper scoffed at the gesture and stood. He put his hands in his pockets and casually walked towards the television to sit next to the Demoman, who was now sitting crossed legged on one side of the love seat, rubbing his temples. Sniper collapsed next to him.
"You've been quiet. You've been actin' odd since last battle. What's up?"
"It' me guts. Sumthin' twisting, burrowing in like a snake..." Demoman muttered into his hands again.
Sniper broke into a grin
"Ah, then you're back to your ole self then?"
"Nye, not like that... I feel somethin's bad gunna hap'en. Feel in me blood..."
Sniper gave the Scot a heart clap on the shoulder, put his feel up on Scouts chair and took the remote.
"Cheer up mate. This whole thing will blow over and we'll all go back the way things were."
Demoman ignored him and leaned back to watch Gilligan.
Meanwhile
With the 3 scattered around one of the security reviewing screens, Engie hurriedly scanned through the archives.
"Shouldn't be far... jus happened couple hours ago- aha!"
He pulled out a massive VCR tape and slid it into the reviewing screen. He sat into the wheelie-chair and pushed the Play button. Soldier and Scout joined him at the re-viewing screen.
"Allrighty, let's look for him."
He pressed the rewind button as every screen, showing all the cameras on base wound up. They skimmed through every video screen, looking for the strange man.
"There he iz." A voice stated behind the trio.
Soldier, Scout and Engie yelped in surprise as their Spy shoved his way in-between them. Before any of them could say anything, he took a drag of his cigarette and rolled his eyes.
"I know, I know. You hate when I do zhat. I know zhat's why you love me."
"Shut it Frenchie. Where is he?"
Spy pointed his cigarette towards the screen. The fuzzy black and white screen showed a backwards rendition of the previous night's events; specifically the part when they were putting Jackson in the closet.
"Zhat's him then?" Spy scoffed. He took another drag. "He iz no Spy."
There they where, the Solder and Engineer and Medic carrying a passed out form of a lanky, man from the storage closet to the Infirm.
Scout chuckled at the comical fast, backwards characters being showed on the screen. They watched as the trio walked backwards into the Medics domain. Soldier tried to shove his way past Engineer to get at the controls.
"Skip all of that, let's find when he sneaks in."
Scout elbowed his arm in to also progress control, "Naw, I wanna see ya clobber him."
Soldier approved of this, and with annoyed resistance from Engineer, allowed Scout to watch as Soldier slammed their captive with the shovel over and over.
"Heh, look. Blood, no blood! Blood goes back in! Blood gushes out!"
"That's enough. We don't have to see it over and over." Engineer spat
Regaining his spot at the control panel, he rewound it a bit further. Until Soldier and Engineer disappeared and Jackson was all that remained as he made his way out of the entry bay. They followed him as he limped hastily screen to screen, as his trail arrived closer and closer to Respawn.
"Good, now we can uncover how he got in."
To their complete surprise, Jackson, instead of moving past the Respawn doors, and towards 3 of the available doors surrounding him, he stumbled and sat down on the ground before laying down into a foetal position. The picture got dark as the alarm was now off. Jackson continued laying there.
"He was inside, BEFORE the alarm went off." Soldier proclaimed thoughtfully.
They saw grainy teleportation dust fade in and fall up around the shambled form of the stranger. All the sudden the camera seemed to shake and bound as a white light filled the entire screen, the camera shook more violently and fuzzed out for several seconds... Then fuzzed back to life, showing the empty room.
Engineer rewound the tape, played the tape in normal speed, rewinding it at certain points. The 4 witnessed as Jackson, over and over was thrown like a ragdoll from the blanket of light and teleporter dust. Engie tapped the sides of the screen trying to see through the white light that constricted the view.
"What in A.P's Hill was THAT?"
"It looks...appears like he was copiously teleported..."
The four of them all glanced back at the reviewing screen, then back to each other. They watched the clip over and over again. Scout leaped up and waved his hands around.
"Whoawhoawhoa! I got it! This guy, he's an alien!"
"What?" Engie said annoyed, he put a gloved hand on his hip.
"Think aboat it; that book thing, his clothes are crazy! He was teleported, he must from anotha planet!"
"That's nonsense."
"Hell, it sure looks that way. That black box thing is proof enough."
"That does make more sense" Soldier pondering thoughtfully. Spy simply scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"He's notta alien Scout." Engineer snapped, "He's from the future."
"Oh, then what is- WHAT?"
Spy even acknowledged this remark as he stared with wide eyes. Scout and Soldier followed suit by staring blankly at the Engineer. Engineer attempted to prove his claim.
"Look"
He showed the bottom of the strange device, pointing to some of the fine writing on a sticker, somewhat covered in purple cola.
"Made in Japan... Copyright 2009. I think this speaks for its self."
Spy, forgotten his cigarette between his lips and continued to stare in mild surprise, Scout looked even more excited as Soldier once shocked face grew back into a scowl.
"The more reason NOT to trust the hippie, he'll try to spread his future lingo and mannerisms on us."
A sudden thought occurred to him, panic rose in his voice.
"My god, what if EVERYONE is like him the future! We have to do something! We need to prevent this!"
"Don't blow a gasket, he might be part of the army." Joked Scout
"If Soldiers in the future are like him, I'm going to shoot myself behind the tool shed." Grumbled Soldier, pushing his helmet forward, "His generation doesn't deserve what we're doing here."
"Vell, that still dozen't explain how he got here."
"I think I know. I'll explain later, let's go tell the others" Engie nodded, removing the tape from the VCR slot.
"Move out!"
Scout ran ahead, running out right away to tell the others the exciting news. He burst into the living room area like a bat out of hell, expecting everyone to stop what they're doing to talk to him. Heavy, Pyro and Medic didn't move from their spots at the table, although Pyro moved his seat so he could still watch Gillian and put his boots up on the table. Sniper and Demoman relaxed in front of the television. Sniper didn't look at Scout as he rushed in.
"Well?"
"That guy's from the future? Canna believe it?"
"No." Demoman and the Sniper both said at the same time, still staring at the television. They began to register what Scout said and turned their heads at him.
" You joking?"
Enigneer and Soldier walked in
"No, tell em' guys! That guy was teleported through time to get here!"
"Truckie, wut's-"
"Yes, he was teleported somehow here. And with evidence given by this thing, he's probably from the future. Let's not question how he got here, let's talk about how to deal with him."
Spy appeared out of nowhere and seized the device from Engineer's gloved hand.
"Non, I believe we should discover how he came here to prevent other arrivals, don't you agree? The REAL question iz, how did a RED teleportal unit, designed and built by our own Engineer, somehow drop a standard, yet ugly civilian into our territory?"
Silence.
Spy couldn't help but sneer.
"Isn't it obvious? It appears that our dear Engineer has been fiddling with the Respawn again."
Silence turned into shouting, shouting at the Engineer.
"What're you THINKING?"
"You put our entire troop in peril!"
"Remember what happened last time?"
"You're not as smart as you think!"
Engineer put up his hands in defence
"Will ya'll let me explain then?"
The shouting stopped, but then started up again.
"He admits it!"
"You ztupid, ztupid man!"
"Arugh!"
Engineer rose over the crowd.
"All right, thank you, settle down. Now just a second, I think ...well... I know how it all happened."
He waited till everyone, grumbled and sat back into a seat. Engineer took a breath and continued;
"All I wanted to do was to build a teleport in the main Respawn. Ya see, I have a tiny problem with spahs always destroying my teleports. So I thought, if I could at least build an entrance in the main respawn, it would get ya'll to the front lines and no Spahs could get at them. Problem was, for some reason, Respawn room doesn't allow any of mah machinery to work. At first I thought it was actually the respawn mechanisms that prevented the teleport not to go, but after a couple of test runs, I noticed it was the ground. The floor of the respwan emits some sorta electrical current that disrupts the gesticulation of any outsourced machinery. It's sorta like the spahs sapper. So, I simply thought, if I built a raised, auto-aluminum platform, or a rubber base or-"
He noticed the blank stares.
"Well, long story short, I built one. It worked at first, but then after a couple of hours of test runs, it disappeared. Just like that."
The team's expression varied from complete annoyance and anger from to confusion and fear.
"What happened to it?"
Engineer shrugged.
"I dunno"
"C'mon! You're supposed to be the smart one! You have no clue what happened?"
"Well, I check out the Respawn mechs, nothing was wrong with it, none of you lost any limbs or organs. So I thought 'Meh, everything is fine.' Either the Respawn destroyed the tele or one of you did it in."
Soldier stood up slowly.
"I don't know what is worse. The matter that a member of our own team actively TRIED to sabotage our means of survival, or the fact that he knew something might be wrong WHILE we were still using it!"
"Well, I didn't want ya'll yellin' and gettin' worked up at me for something that's probably not serious!
"Serious? We could have DIED!"
"That is barmy, even for you mate. It's fortunate it didn't teleport any of US away...Yeah, how did that happen anyway?"
"I dunno, must have divided by zero... I don't understand how it would randomly take someone from a random location and date, and plop it conveniently here!"
"He iz lucky he didn't surface into a vall, or ze floor." Medic inquired thoughtfully.
"That'd be fricking cool! But damn nasty."
Stillness fell upon all of him, as they reflected on the optional danger they were all in. Scout spoke up again.
"So, what do we do now? Should we call Headquarters or somethin'?"
Spy stood up again and placed his hands behind his back.
"I believe the right course of action, for the time being of course, to allow him to be kept secret. He could be a valuable source of intelligence."
"Yeah, the piker might be useful against BLU"
"Let the maggot ROT"
"No! No, we're not gunna use him! We should find a way to get him back! It's mah fault this happened, least I can do is try to reserve it sumhow."
"Ve should not let you vork vith Respawn again."
"Now hold on, you believe it's a good idea to just let him walk around?"
"Well, no, I thought we could take turns watching him. He could act as Civilian."
"Hey, what? We're going to haveta babysit him?
"Aye, we're not bein' paid to watch 'im." muttered Demoman
"Lettle man should not be much trouble."
"I don't want that sissy hippie in the same vicinity of me or anyone! And that goes to you too Engineer."
"Well, what will we do then? He's done nothin' wrong."
"I'd call invasion a very good cause."
"He didn't-" Engineer ran his palm down his face in annoyance. He turned his face to the Medic, he was still on the same page he was 10 minutes ago.
"Wadda think Doc?"
"I zhink I want to hook his brain up to un electrode zanner. But that's 'too unzanitary'" he put his first two fingers in quotation.
"Well yeah, if ya do it on the kitchen table that is." Sniggered Scout.
"Meine Fähigkeiten ist in diesem team verschwendet..." he muttered, burrowing his face back into the cover.
"But I can get 'em back. I know I can! I could use this mechanism! All I need is a few days." Engie persisted. He paused to take out the strange machine left on the table and held it out.
"When's the next rumble? Thursday?"
He looked at his team for confirmation
"Two days all I need. If I could just find the teleporter, I could easily backtrack to see what data brought 'im here and reverse it. He'd be long gone before Badwater."
"You sure about that Engie?"
"Positive, and if it takes more time, he'll be an official Civilian at Badwater."
"Engie, there's a reason why we don't HAVE Civilians anymore."
"I know, he'll be a Civilian, just BLU won't know about him. Badwater is easy to defend, as long as he stays out of the way and out of trouble, we'll still get victory."
Soldier stubbornly crossed his arms across his chest
"He'd find something to ruin our winning streak."
"We take vote." Heavy stated.
"Yeah, let's get this ovar with."
"Almighty, whoever thinks we should let em' go, raise your hands."
No one did.
"Alrighty" he said
"Now, whoever thinks we oughta let em' stay while I fix a way back home, raise your hand."
Engineer raised his hand. Scout immediately shot his arm up and gave a wide, hopeful smile to the others. Spy half-hardily raised his hand up and let it fall to take another drag. With slight hesitation Medic too joined the group, before also taking it away and falling against his seat. Heavy raised an eyebrow at the visibly sulky Medic.
"Why Doktor?"
"That's for me to know. You aren't raising your hand. Why?"
"I donnot know the stranger man. I don't care."
"Gud answer"
Engineer dropped his hand, "Okay, that's 4 so far, Sniper?"
Sniper didn't look up as he lit up a cigarette and mumbled through his lips.
"Leave me out of this; I don't care what you do."
Sitting at the end of the table, which almost everyone was either standing near, or leaning their chairs against the wall, was the Pyro with his arm straight up in the air.
"PYRO! What- THAT IS NOT GOOD FORM SON!" shouted the Soldier, waving his arms about.
Pyro lowered his hand and replied with a low unrecognizable sling of words. He crossed his arms and slumped in his seat. Whatever he said, they will never know.
"I'd ask you Demo, but it'll be no point." Engie said with a slight grin.
"Eh? Doesn't matter. As long as the lad doesn't get himself blown up by one of my idle bombs-"
"Zhat would be a miracle." The Spy snorted.
"I WILL NOT TOLERATE MY OWN TEAM VOTING TO HELP A DEFENSELESS HIPPIE!"
"Majority rules pal."
"Majority not! The Mongols never kept their prisoners alive."
Sniper suppressed a cough, "Keep ya voice down, he ain't gunna do anything. We're all professionals 'ere. We can 'andle one snot can't we?"
"We're not prepared to keep prisoners! Where would we keep him? Set up a guest room? Go out to buy matching curtains? Throw an Aussie teaparty afterwards?"
"Ey, that's uncalled for."
"He'll stay in his damn closet Soldier."
"And what if anything you do doesn't work? We'd be stuck with the maggot-hippie."
"Then we let him start a new life in the 20th century or shoot his kneecaps in! I dunno! I mightas well give it a shot. If I unexpectedly brought someone here through time, I'm sure I could do it again."
He grinned at his team. Medic put down his magazine and stood. Smoothing his coat, he stood straight-backed and adjusted his suspenders. With a
"You did not bring him here, it vas your stupidity zat and incompetence. Not only are we fixed vith the useless man, but have to care for his every whim."
Engie put his hands on his waist and gave him an annoyed look.
"If he's such a pain in the ass, why did you vote for him to stay huh?"
"Like I told Heavy, for my own reazons." Medic hissed, "Reazons that are none of your concern."
"Oooohoo, got some mad science crap you wanna try Doc?"
Medic sat back down muttering "Dummkopf"
"I vill rip man's arms off if he threatens teem." Declared Heavy in a low rumble, squeezing his giant fists on the table.
"How can you say that? Ya haven't even met him yet. Hey damn, ya'll want to meet 'im? That'd do some good, some new surroundings could knock some sense into him."
