Chapter 8 - Tensions

Scout and Spy stood outside the main entrance to the base in the snow. Spy didn't seem affected by the cold, given the various layers of clothing he was wearing under his suit, but Scout was shivering even in his sweatshirt over his regular clothes. Scout groaned.

"What the hell is takin' Engie so long?" he complained. "And, seriously, it should be illegal for it to be this cold!" Spy chuckled.

"Engineer had a few things to finish up when I checked on him about a half hour ago," explained Spy. "He should be here any minute now." Scout rubbed his arms to keep himself warm. He sneezed a few seconds later from the cold. Spy frowned. "Maybe you should wait inside where it's warm. I don't think you've fully gotten over whatever you caught the other day."

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Scout looked up at the sky, noticing the snow falling harder. "Hey, do you think we'll have a match tomorrow?" Spy looked up.

"Hard to tell with the weather we've been having lately." Scout sneezed again. Spy furrowed his eyebrows. "Okay, that's it. We're waiting inside." He put an arm around Scout's shoulders and attempted to guide him back inside, though Scout struggled.

"Spy, man, I'm fine! Really!" Scout tripped over his own foot as he struggled and quickly lost his balance. Spy caught him before he fell flat on his face, wrapping his arms around the young man. Scout held onto Spy as he regained his footing.

"Are you okay, Scout?" asked Spy worriedly. "You're not usually this clumsy."

"Yeah…I guess I'm just tired." Spy frowned once more.

"Do you want to skip the meeting and get some sleep?" Scout shook his head quickly, frowning.

"No way. I want to help you guys, especially with that mystery guy out there still. I don't want to be useless, y'know?"

"Scout, you're not useless. You've been a tremendous help to us. We wouldn't have gotten this far in our investigation without you." Scout smiled slightly, then yawned, speaking once more.

"Besides, if I get too tired, I could always crash in Snipes' van." Spy scowled. Scout looked up and noticed the look of distaste in his friend's expression. He suddenly remembered what Engineer had told him about Spy and Sniper. "I've been meanin' to ask ya…is there somethin' goin' on between you and Snipes? Did you two get in a fight or somethin'?" Spy looked once more at Scout, his scowl melting away. He couldn't tell Scout that he was jealous of Sniper, but he also couldn't let Sniper, whom he knew had a great deal of affection for Scout like he himself did, confess to the Bostonian first about how he felt about the boy. However, he didn't feel that that moment was the right time to tell him his true feelings. He simply gave Scout an assuring smile.

"There's nothing going on between us," lied Spy. Scout frowned, not believing him. He decided not to press the matter further when a blast of frigid air hit the two as the wind kicked up, causing Scout to squeak from the cold and shiver once more. Spy held him close in his arms to keep him warm. Scout, not caring how awkward he felt the two looked in their position, clung to Spy for warmth, resting his head on his chest and closing his eyes, tiredness setting in.

The two looked over at the doors that had just opened, seeing Engineer coming out of them. It was his turn to shiver.

"Whooee!" he exclaimed. "It should be illegal for it to be this cold!" Scout poked Spy's chest, laughing.

"Ha! Told ya!" he bragged. Spy chuckled, looking at Scout. Engineer cocked an eyebrow.

"Am I interruptin' somethin' here?" Spy and Scout looked at themselves, then at each other, and then quickly pushed apart, clearing their throats.

"No! Nothing!" they nervously answered simultaneously.

"Then let's get over to Sniper's van before we turn into BLU-cicles!" Scout chuckled as the three made their way to the van.

"I get it!" exclaimed Scout. "It's because we're BLU, and it's cold, and ice is blue, and…"

"Scout," interrupted Engineer. "Shut up."


Sniper waited patiently inside of the van. He finished making a pot of decaf coffee (to warm everyone up) and pulled out a number of blankets for everyone to wrap up in due to the extreme cold. Sniper didn't usually mind the cold, but it was unbearably cold outside, and the van offered little warmth.

He heard a knock at the door to the van. He made his way over and Scout, Spy and Engineer quickly made their way in. Sniper couldn't help but smirk as Scout quickly made his way to one of the blankets, immediately wrapping up in it and sitting in front of Sniper's bed on the floor. Engineer wasn't too far behind him, grabbing another blanket. Spy nodded to Sniper in greeting, then made his way to the group, sitting on one side of Scout.

Sniper began to pour everyone their drinks when he heard another knock at the door. He opened it up and in came "RED's Spy". The man nodded in greeting and walked in, shutting the door behind himself. He looked around.

"I see everyone is here?" he asked. The other three BLU's glanced over from their sitting places to look at the newcomer.

"Oi, we're all 'ere," answered Sniper, beginning to hand out the mugs of coffee.

"Sniper, is it wise to give us coffee this late at night?" asked Engineer. "Especially to our hyperactive bunny over there?"

"Can it, Hard-Hat!" spat Scout. Sniper chuckled.

"Relax, it's decaf," assured Sniper. BLU's Spy looked over at his "counterpart".

"Did you invite someone from your base at all?" he asked. The man in red nodded.

"I've been working with our Demoman because of his past connections with your team's Soldier," he explained. "However, he wasn't able to make it tonight since he's incredibly hung over." Scout rolled his eyes.

"Figures," he scoffed.

"He's aware of the situation, though, and is willing to help us. Currently he's covering my tracks at the base." He glanced at the BLUs as he sat down across from Scout. "Have you taken the necessary precautions to cover your own?"

"Everyone is sound asleep right now," explained BLU's Spy. Sniper finally sat down on the other side of Scout.

"Shall we get started?" he suggested. Everyone nodded. BLU's Spy cleared his throat.

"Okay, so we're all up to date on our information?" he questioned. Everyone nodded once more. "Very well. Engineer, do you have anything you would like to add?"

"Sure do," he replied. "About six months ago, I was brought to Mr. Blutarch Mann's office to fix his life-extender machine my grandfather made. I was given my grandfather's blueprints and notes in order to complete this task, and in the notes, I saw a list of different Australium caches throughout the world as well as when and for whom the three life-extender machines were made." BLU's Spy nearly choked on his coffee as Sniper spit his out into his mug.

"Wh-what!" they both exclaimed.

"One topic at a time," suggested the other Spy, visibly shocked by the news. "First, the Australium caches. Anything of note with those?"

"All of the places that we have fought at were Australium caches. Apparently while we were fighting and protecting the bases, in the gated off sections of the area, our companies were mining for Australium. This has been going on since my grandfather's time when he worked for Builders League United." BLU's Spy furrowed his eyebrows.

"That would explain why our boss has us fighting each other," noted Spy. "My guess is that with the public's attention on the war, nobody would be paying attention to the mining of Australium, thus keeping its value and mystery intact."

"So what about th'third life-extender machine?" interrogated Sniper. Engineer frowned.

"Unfortunately, my grandfather spilled something on the notes, making the name illegible," confessed Engineer. "All I know is that it was built eight months after Redmond Mann's was built, which was a month after Blutarch's."

"Do you know if it was for a man or a woman?" asked the other Spy. Engineer shook his head.

"Can't tell. Like I said, the name is illegible. It didn't help that my grandfather's handwriting was bad to begin with." BLU's Spy sighed, intertwining his fingers and resting his elbows on his knees, resting his chin on his hands.

"We can't know for sure if our boss is the one with the life-extender machine or not, seeing as how we've never actually seen her face."

"I believe our Soldiers do," piped in the other Spy. "Doesn't your Soldier get direct orders from her for BLU while ours does for RED?" Spy looked at the man in red.

"I hadn't thought of that before. It sounds like we'll both have to look into it for our respective teams."

"So that'll be our next task?" asked Sniper. "Getting both of our Soldiers involved?" Both Spy's nodded. Engineer glanced over at the unusually quiet Scout, then smiled tenderly.

"I think we'll have to reconvene another time, fellas," announced Engineer quietly. The other three glanced over at Scout, who was sound asleep, sitting upright against the bed with his blanket wrapped tightly around himself. "I think we've bored him to death."

"No, I'm afraid he was already very tired before we started," explained BLU's Spy. "I told him he should have skipped the meeting and get some rest, but he refused. He nearly fell asleep standing up while we were waiting for you, Engineer."

"I think 'e's trying t'prove to us that 'e isn't a burden, even though we've told 'im we don't' see 'im that way," uttered Sniper. He set his empty mug down and stood up. He carefully picked up Scout and laid him down on the bed, trying not to wake him. He took his own blanket and put it over the young man to keep him warm. He placed the back of his hand against Scout's forehead, checking for a fever; thankfully, Scout wasn't running one. "RED's Spy" cleared his throat, then stood up.

"I must agree with your Engineer and suggest we have this meeting again some other time," he declared.

"Maybe we can bring our Soldiers and your Demoman to our next meeting?" suggested Engineer. The Spy in the red suit nodded.

"Yes. For now, however…" He looked over at Scout. "…we should let him get some rest." The others nodded as they stood up. "RED's Spy" was the first to exit after saying his good-byes. Engineer and BLU's Spy exited the camper together, with Spy taking one last look at Scout before hesitantly leaving. The door remained open for a bit, but eventually closed itself.

Once the camper was quiet, Sniper yawned and stretched, his arms going sideways (his head almost touched the ceiling due to his height and the size of the van). He glanced at and slowly made his way over to the sleeping Scout. Sniper gently cupped the young man's face in his hand, admiring his soft features as he softly brushed his thumb against Scout's cheek. Unable to contain himself, Sniper slowly lowered his face, his lips dangerously close to Scout's. He stopped himself, frowned, then settled on kissing Scout's forehead softly.

"I saw that," he heard an annoyed, familiar voice say to him from behind. Sniper whipped around and faced his team's Spy, who was glaring at him. "I knew I couldn't trust you to stay with Scout alone." Sniper returned the glare.

"I can't trust you, either," he retorted.

"I had my suspicions about you, Sniper. I had a feeling that you, too, loved Scout."

"So you're admitting your feelings, too, eh? Yes, I love th'man. Well, now that we've got that off of our chests, I 'ave t'admit that I 'ate 'ow you treat Scout like a girl!"

"And I hate how you treat him like a child! And I detest how you try to take advantage of him in situations like this!"

"You've done th'same thing, you two-faced mongrel! I saw you two through my window just this evening!"

"I was keeping him warm, you repulsive bushman! I don't know what you were trying to do the other night in the infirmary when you were hugging him with his shirt off!"

"I was comforting him! Unlike you, I care about his feelings and what he's going through, as opposed to your indifference to it! You don't deserve someone like him!"

"Neither do you!"

"Uh…guys?" interrupted a quiet voice. Sniper and Spy froze, immediately ceasing their bickering. The two simultaneously turned their heads towards Scout, who was sitting up in bed on his side, staring blankly at the two.

"How much of that did you hear?" asked Spy nervously. Scout frowned, pushing the covers off of himself and standing up, making his way to the door. Both Spy and Sniper began to move to stop him, but Scout held up his hand, stopping them in their tracks without getting so much as a glance from the young man. Scout opened the door and quickly made his way into the cold, slamming the door shut. He leaned against the outside of the door, taking in a deep breath of cold air and shakily exhaling it.

"Dammit…it is my fault," he mumbled to himself. He shut his eyes tightly and shook his head, pushing off of the door and quickly making his way to his base.


Engineer was making his way back to the van when he saw Scout quickly exiting it, keeping his eyes glued to the ground. Engineer ran up to him, placing his hands on his shoulders gently to stop him.

"Scout!" he cried out. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"I don't want to talk about it right now," replied the Bostonian quietly. "Just…nevermind. Let's go inside. It's too cold." Engineer nodded worriedly. As he slowly removed his hands from Scout's shoulders, he suddenly heard a revolver going off, followed by intense pain in his upper left chest. He let out a muted cry of pain as he fell backwards into the snow, his world going black. Scout went into a panic, kneeling next to his fallen friend. "Oh God! Engie!"

"Mother…hubbard…" croaked Engineer, gripping his wound as his breathing quickened. He could feel himself losing consciousness.

"Shit, shit, that's a lot of blood…MEDIC! C'mon, Engie! Don't die on me! Hang in there! Think of your wife and daughter! Just don't die!" It suddenly hit Scout in his panic: Engineer had been shot! Scout cursed himself for not bringing a weapon and looked around shakily, his eyes darting around, trying to find where their assailant was. Instead, he saw "RED's Spy" running up to the two, a look of panic on his own face.

"Scout!" he cried out. "What happened? Are you all right?" The man knelt down and pulled Scout into a tight, comforting embrace. Scout looked up at him. He was about to hug the man for comfort, but stopped himself quickly when he looked at the man's eyes. They weren't grey like his—they were hazel. And the man had called him "Scout" and not "Danny". Scout's eyes widened in horror at the realization, causing the man to grin wickedly, knowing what was going through Scout's mind through the terror in his eyes.

"HELP!"