9

Um stuff. And. Uh. More stuff. Oh yeah now I remember.

Some of you are sending me PMs. Don't bother I never check em. I only saw them now by chance, though they are all several months old. So heads up. I don't do PM.

Shepard squinted as the harsh glare of the Zoryan sun blazed into his eyes. He stepped out of the shuttle alongside an edgy looking Zaeed. Behind that were the Pyro, the Soldier, the Demoman, and Grunt. The Pyro breathed deep and rubbed his hands together. "Mph mph mph…mmmpph ummummphu mmmphmmum mu."

The Soldier nodded back. "Yes I can smell it. That there is some heavy industry filling the air."

Shepard eyed the Solder. "Wait, you people can understand him? It?"

The Demoman nodded. "Aye, we can; we dun been with him fer years. After a while, ye start to hear the words behind the grunts."

Shepard considered pressing the subject further, but then dismissed it. "Be careful, this is a refinery, very volatile stuff goes through here." He eyed the Pyro uneasily as the masked person started jumping up and down with glee. "There are people here being held against their will. Our priorities are to free them, and neutralize the Blue Sun presence. Any questions?"

EDI chimed in. "Shepard, I'm picking up comms traffic. Patching it through."

"-ing zone. Squads Alpha and Gamma go check it out."

Zaeed's faced twisted into some mix of a snarl and a smile. "They know we're coming. Good." He primed his rifle and trudged through the foliage. Everyone followed after. Zaeed seemed to know the place very well already. Without any real help, he guided the squad through the dense jungles and onto a clearer path leading to some sort of industrial plant. Just as quickly, they ran into one of the squads. The leader, a Batarian shouted in their direction and seven other Blue Suns opened fire on them. Everyone dived for cover. Except the Demoman.

The family greatsword in one hand, a Mann Co. Gel Shield ("I didn't even know we made things like this" – Seamus Hale) in the other, he screamed a war cry and closed the distance between himself and an unfortunate Turian. Before the alien could bring anything up to block it, the sword sliced through the weak neck joint of his armor, and removed the head in a deft swipe. Grunt laughed at this display of brutality and, invigorated, jumped out of cover firing his shotgun full auto into another unfortunate. While the man survived the shotgun barrage, he did not survive the wall of Krogan slamming into him. He went flying into a rocky outcrop and didn't rise.

The Batarian turned his weapon on the Krogan, but it left him open to the rocket of the Soldier. He was knocked back as his shields absorbed the explosion, but the attention bought the grinning Krogan down on him. It was messy, and no more shall be said.

"We're being overrun, fall back and regroup" one yelled, and the others obeyed in a disordered fashion, some just turning heel and running for their lives, others moving back laying down poorly aimed suppressive fire. Something Zaeed took advantage of. With deft aim, he fired a three shot burst into two Blue Suns, dropping their shields, then switched to single fire and put one bullet in the heads of each one.

A gruff voice cut into the comms. "This is Santiago. If any of you sons of bitches run while the intruders are still around, I'll kill you myself. Get out there and fight!"

Zaeed grunted. "Vido. Hasn't changed a bit."

"Mmm mmph mmph?" Pyro asked. Zaeed replied with a blank stare

"He asked if you really know that guy." Soldier translated.

"'Course I know him. Sonnuvabitch was the same as he was twenty years ago when we ran the Blue Suns-"

"Back up a moment." Shepard held up his hand. "You founded the Blue Suns?"

"Yeah. Me n' him ran everything till he decided to muscle me out."

"That's doesn't appear in its official history." Shepard said. Team Fortress laughed at this.

Demoman smiled and tilted his head to Shepard. "Boyo, official history always cuts out some o' the more 'unsavory' details."

"I know that, but even this is a…stretch."

"That's 'cause Vido went through a hell of a lot of trouble to make sure my part was erased. The asshole bought my men away, went through all the records and erased any trace of me. I don't care about that crap anymore; I just want to return the favor he gave me." He smirked rubbing the scar tissue around his eye.

"That's why yer eye's all" The Demoman pointed to the heavily scarred region on the right side of his face. Zaeed chuckled.

"Yep, that's the one. Sunnuvabitch put a gun to m'head and pulled the trigger n' left me for dead. Idiot never could finish a job."

The comms started up again. "All squads mass at the gatehouse, their coming from the front."

"They're expecting us." Shepard said.

Soldier hefted his Mann Co issue Explodenator ("A real mann's weapon. Though not as mannly as MY FISTS!" –Seamus Hale) "Good, that means I won't have to hunt the scum suckers down later. To the Zoryan gatehouse place thing!"

…Zoryan Gatehouse Place Thing…

Vido was getting impatient. A bunch of intruders, shooting up the new bloods, right as he was settling into getting his ass drunk. Not a bad way to spend his lazy afternoon. The solders around him were tense, fingers ready to pull the trigger, but he wouldn't let them. He'd kill them if they didn't let him see who was rude enough to make him waste his break time.

"Contact" a Batarian said, and over the ridge came the dirt bags. This was a surprise. A bunch of jokers dressed up in Tee-Eff getups, some guy he didn't recognize and a very angry, very familiar face.

"Zaeed." Vido said with false joy. "Finally found me huh?"

"Vido…you know why I'm here, so we can skip the bullcrap."

The brown bearded man scoffed. "As if, didn't end well last time. This time I got even more men aimed at ya. Go on take your best shot. I dare ya."

"Challenge Accepted." Soldier declared and fired a rocket at the massed Blue Suns. The explosion reduced two to a red mist, and caused the others to flinch. A second rocket and three were writhing on the ground with shrapnel sticking out of them, and limbs bent in angles that really shouldn't be possible. The third rocket hit a gas pipe and the whole top of the gatehouse was in flames. Vido ran off. "Damn I think I missed." Soldier muttered.

Shepard forcefully spun the Soldier around. "The hell was that for? There are people in this refinery, we're here to save them not kill them!"

The Soldier looked confused. "Aren't we also here to kill that Vido bastard?

"We are." Zaeed nodded as he put his gun away. He started to pull the metal debris away from the entrance, just enough for a man to crawl through. "Don't forget that Shepard, that was the deal with Cerberus; that was the deal I made with you. Vido dies today.

Frustrated, Shepard pushed Zaeed out of the way, concentrated his emotions into his hand, and used the biotics to warp the metal into the crevices. Turning to Zaeed, he said in a threatening voice "We are not risking the lives of others to do it though, and don't forget that."

Soldier scratched his head. "If you're that worried about it, why not go rescue them yourself?"

Shepard turned and fixed the soldier with his angriest glare, but the Soldier paid it no mind. "I mean you bought us, hired killers with ballistic explosives on a rescue operation? That isn't gonna work pal. Maybe you should take say Pyro with you, and me and Demoman will go with Zaeed to chase Vido down. That way anything we blow up will be beneficial."

Shepard was ready to send a stinging retort then bit it back. There was a surprising amount of logic in that. An explosion came from the refinery. The Soldier's damage was far more severe than he realized. He came to his decision. "Fine. You guys go after Vido. Pyro, you're with me."

"Mmmphmm mm? Mmmphmmhmpmhmmm?"

Shepard stared at him blankly.

"He asked if he gets to burn stuff." The Soldier said.

"…sure."

…Zoryan Refinery (Zaeed's team)…

"Wait for me you bastard! I'm comin' to kill ya Vido!" Zaeed declared as he opened full auto with his assault rifle. The Turian went down clutching a wound in his neck. Vido had just thrown the unfortunate right in front of him at the last minute.

"You couldn't do it last time Zaeed. You won't this time" He shouted back. "Kill him you idiots! Kill em all!" He ran and let the others distract Zaeed. Unfortunate for them

"Come on ya bloody ponces! IN THE NAME OF DEGROOOOOOT!" Demoman shouted as he lopped another man's head off.

"Heaaaads…" his sword whispered.

"Oh shut it, I wasn't talkin' to ye." Demoman said back.

The Soldier fired his full payload of rockets at a gas tank, making a marvelous explosion that bought a tear to the Demoman's remaining eye. "Might as well give up now maggots, I have you outnumbered one to twenty." He switched to his shotgun, the Mann Co Krogan's Mouth("Will you turn that stupid thing off? Quote? For what? That's a stupid name for a gun, who was the idiot who gave it that f"- Seamus Hale). The shotgun blasted away the visual sensory input of a mech, leaving it totally vulnerable to the Demoman's sticky bomb explosion.

"Send as many bastards as you want Vido! They won't save you today!" Zaeed laughed.

Vido didn't even slow down. He screamed into his comm link to bring reinforcements, anything to stop the explosive happy maniacs.

…Zoryan Refinery (Shepard's Team)…

"Go you're free, go!" Shepard shouted. Dozens of workers flooded past him, heads down, only looking forward. The whole building shook as some other part of the facility went up. "Demoman! Keep the damage to a minimum until everyone is evacuated."

"But that wud'na me!" Demoman replied.

"Soldier…"

"No sir." The building shook again. "That was me, but it was an accident."

"Wait. Where's the Pyro?"

"YOU LOST THE PYRO?!" Demoman and Soldier shouted simultaneously. Shepard pulled his comm out for a moment and winced. "What?"

"Oh! Uh…nothin' just uh…keep doin' what yer doin, but if you start hearing screamin', ye might wanna start runnin' fer th'hills." Demoman's voice came in a shaky, nervous tone.

Shepard raised an eyebrow. A meaningless gesture since no one was watching him, but still, he was confused. Why was it so bad to lose the Pyro in a flammable refiner-oh.

...Zoryan Refinery Shipping pad…

He sighed in relief. Too close. He felt the comfortable rumble of the engines activating as his shuttle began its ascent "Shields are going up sir. We are-wait what the hell's that?"

Vido turned and saw what the pilot was pointing at. A body was falling through the air straight for them. And it got bigger all too quickly. Suddenly the speakers were flooded with noise. A battle cry that seemed to extend into forever: "SEAMUS HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALE !"

The large shirtless man impacted on the nose of the ship and with amazing deftness, clambered to the cockpit windshield. With a single punch, he tore through half a foot of glass, and smashed the ship's controls. The pilot screamed as the ship lost control, and began to spin wildly towards the ground.

This was getting too insane. Vido undid his straps and clung for dear life as he struggled to the ship's loading doors and forced them open. Grabbing one of the emergency evacuation packs, the rolled out just in time as the ship exploded in mid-air for no reason in particular. A push of a button, and he was making his way earthward at a safe speed. Except what was waiting for him on the ground was not welcoming. The red suited lunatic from before was gazing up at him from its lifeless black gas mask. Vido struggled to shift himself away, but the thing calmly followed him, staying directly under him. Vido yelped as he saw the thing ready its evil looking weapon and pointing it right at him. A gout of flame rushed up to meet him, but dissipated thankfully a couple feet away.

The thing wouldn't stop though. More fire; it was getting closer. "Get away. Oh GOD GET AWAY!" Vido was practically screaming as he reached desperately on his belt for a weapon.

…Pyrovision Active…

The Pyro tilted his head sideways. The funny man didn't want the bubbles? That's impossible. Everyone wants bubbles and rainbows. He must have had a bad time with rainbows. Like Scout! Now that was a poor person. Such a sad individual deprived of the joy of rainbows. But he lightened up and started liking bubble rainbows. So would this funny baby-man. "ME NO LIKE-EE RAINBOW" the funny baby-man shouted. "BUBBLE GA-GA-BOO-BOO!"

"Oh don't be silly my dear friend. There is nothing wrong with rainbows! Especially BUBBLE RAINBOWS!" the Pyro declared in a singsong voice. He fiddled with his instrument again and blew even more into the air. "See, it's fun. There is nothing to fear! Come down and play with everyone my silly friend! Frolic with the rest of your friends!" he implored. More rainbows! More rainbows!

"Eeeeee!" the funny baby-man giggled as the bubbles tickled his lower half. The Pyro knew he was getting through. "Fun! Fun! Again!" he shouted.

The Pyro complied. More bubbles and rainbows for the funny baby-man! The little guy could barely contain his joy and the rainbow washed over him. He shook and he laughed and he danced with glee! That's what the Pyro enjoyed most about his job. Bringing smiles to everyone. Oh! How could he forget?! He hit himself on the head as he forgot the most important part! He reached for his lolly that he saved for such occasions. "For being such a brave little boy, a treat for you!" he sang. "Open wiiiiiiide…" And he tossed the lolly in the boy's direction. The boy caught it right in the middle of his chest and he clutched it close.

"Thank you Mister Pyro sir!" the funny little guy said.

"Not at all" Pyro smiled and waved good bye. Whistling a little tune, he did a little jig as he went back to his other friends. Such a wonderful place this was. Even in the future, on these wondrous new worlds, people still needed his smiles, and he was more than happy to give them.

…Pyrovision no longer active…

The Demoman winced as what was left of Vido finally stopped moving. "Oh that was a bad'un." he grimaced.

The Soldier shared his sentiments as he fought to keep down his lunch. It became especially hard when the smell of cooked flesh hit his nostrils. Zaeed however seemed unfazed. If anything, he approved, as he slowly nodded at the grisly scene. "Only thing I'd change in this scene is if I done that myself…"

Zaeed stared at Vido's corpse for a few moments more. "Well Shepard, the deed's done. How're things on your end?"

"Fine Zaeed. Are you alright?" Shepard asked.

"Just fine." Zaeed said.

Suddenly the foliage began to rustle. Everyone spun around to the source, readying their weapons. From the dense jungle came the slightly singed Seamus Hale. He brushed off some smoking metal debris from his thick, Australia-shaped chest hair and took off his hat to inspect the damage. "Oooh, that's gonna cost a lot to fix." he groaned. Only after he finished picking warped shrapnel from his still meticulous moustache, he noticed the mercenaries. "Oh it's you lot again yeah? You meet the tenth class yet?"

"Tenth class, what the hell's he talkin' about?" Zaeed turned to Team Fortress. Soldier shrugged. Demoman stepped forward.

"I've been meanin te ask that. What the hell ye talkin' bout, I only knew there was the nine of us."

Seamus was mildly surprised, the only giveaway being a slight rise on the edges of his moustache. "None of you remembered yet? Oy, I gotta get into contact with Her again. This is goin' way too slow."

"What is?" Soldier enquired. Seamus shook his head.

"It's not for me to tell ye. Don't want to make a mess when it happens. No, best thing to do is let Her deal with this. Sorry mates, it's gonna hurt, but it'll hurt even more if you don't remember it, cause if ye don't I'll beat it into your skulls!" Seamus threatened raising his fists. Then he smiled.

"Nah! Just kiddin' with ya, but ye better start rememberin' or we're all in trouble." Seamus said in a somewhat dark tone. Before anyone could press him any further, Seamus was gone, leaping away through the jungle with the grace of a bulldozer.

Normandy

"So what's this about a tenth class?" the entire team was silent. Shepard had gathered the whole team for debriefing, and after going over the comm record, he bought the entire Team Fortress in as well. The CIC room was understandable getting cramped. Shepard was somewhat on edge, the whole Zoryan incident, the destruction of a maximum security prison, this was going to attract a lot of unnecessary attention, and all he was getting was more questions. "No one knows? I find that hard to believe. Hale asked if you remembered. Doesn't that mean you should know what this tenth class is? Why are there ten classes? Why are you even called classes?" Shepard put his hands on the table. "What is Team Fortress? Really?"

Team Fortress shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Especially Spy. After a long, awkward silence he spoke up. "I may have met him. Not personally."

"When?"

"Back when we were raiding BLU for a bomb. He didn't look anything like ze rest of us, but he adhered to ze same guidelines as a RED employee: Having no clothing with blue, or a shade of blue, and murdering anyone who was wearing blue. He was very efficient at ze last part. I probably would have died if he had not arrived."

"Did you get a good look at him?" Shepard inched closer to the Spy.

"Alas, no. I was facing the sun, and after he had killed ze BLU team, he left. Using somezing like an umbrella…only it wasn't."

"Well that doesn't make any sense." Soldier grunted. "What was it?"

"I don't know! Zis is all I can remember. Zough I did feel an odd shiver down my spine when I first saw him. It was an odd, familiar sensation, but I am not sure what."

Shepard put his hand on his forehead. "Alright, we don't know about the tenth class, but what about this remembering business? Why would there be some sort of involvement between you and the man voted to be the third richest man in the galaxy? More to the point, how could you forget something like that?"

The Heavy shrugged. "When working for she-devil, lots of tests, lots of surgery. Not all by Medic. Sometime they tinkered with brain. Maybe they make us forget."

"If that's the case, why do they want you to remember that stuff now?" Miranda asked. "Why bother removing those memories at all?"

"Wait, you actually believe memory alteration is possible with these people? Complete memory wipe?" Jacob asked Miranda.

"Of course. Remember who we're dealing with. Until a few days ago, none of us even knew Team Fortress existed as anything more than a game."

The Engineer scratched his head. "Well, Ah'm thinkin' the easiest reason She doesn't want us to remember is probably some sorta' company secrets they didn't want spillin'. Course, I can't think of much they would still wanna keep secret now. That stuff is ancient history. Literally."

Shepard was about to ask another question when EDI chimed in. "Shepard, the guest the Heavy carried aboard is coming to. It is advisable you negotiate with her, as she is becoming very aggressive."

Shepard swore and ran out the CIC room, Heavy close behind.

Normandy Hangar…

"Don't make one step closer assholes!" Jack shouted. She threw another heavy crate at the Cerberus people in front of her. She was pissed. Course waking up surrounded by Cerberus people was liable to piss her off regardless. They shouted to her, telling her to calm down. Yeah right. She wasn't about to let these people strap her down again.

"Commander Shepard! Thank God you arrived in time!" one of them exclaimed as the elevator opened. Out stepped a man with a shaven head, though the stubble of his hair was growing back, and-HEAVY?!

The smaller guy stepped forward. "Easy now Jack, it's alright, we're friends."

That jolted her back to here and now. "Like I'll fall for that. Give me a reason not to pound you into paste." She threatened. She lifted another crate to show it was not some idle threat.

"Enough little strong girl." The Heavy said softly, or as softly as it could. It still sounded like rocks being ground together. "We not hostiles. If we wanted dead girl, I would have crushed your neck when asleep drooling on my vest."

Jack was caught off guard by that. The crate she had lifted dropped with a clang. "You…okay, you take your TeeEff obsession to a whole new level. I like it as much as the next girl but dressing as him? What is this, Halloween?"

Heavy shook his head. "Not day of silly costumes and babies leeching sugar food from the worker. It was day of silly costumes months ago. My real name is-" The Heavy flinched as he tried to remember his name. Any and all attempt to remember was interrupted and was forgotten. He tried again. Another jolt of pain. Not painful at all, but annoying enough to destroy any thought process.

"You're name is…"Jack waved her arm impatiently. Heavy was apprehensive.

"Heavy," Shepard turned to the large Russian. "are you alright."

They Heavy scratched his head. "I cannot remember name. Too much time allowing the doctors of RED in my brain. Trying to remember name brings pain."

Jack concentrated her power again. "Sorry to break this up, but you aren't doing anything to convince me this is a friendly arrangement. You say you're my friend but you work for Cerberus. That's like pointing a gun to my head while saying you come in peace. You gotta try harder than that."

Shepard spun around. "Dammit, think about it for two seconds, if we really wanted you dead or use you, do you think we would have let you come to while in transit?"

There was some logic in that. Jack reluctantly released her power again. "Alright, so you aren't gonna pick my brain again. So what do you want?" she demanded, folding her arms.

Shepard cleared his throat. "Human colonies are being abducted, and I know who is doing it. I'm assembling a team to find the Collectors and stop them. You were recommended."

"…by who?"

Shepard paused. "By the Illusive Man."

Jack spat. "That asshole? Why should I do anything for that guy?"

"What is history with you and Illusion Man?" Heavy asked.

"You really don't know? You really aren't Cerberus. You know, I might tell ya why but only cause you look like the Heavy." Jack laughed. She pointed to Shepard. "Cerberus has data on me. I want it. All of it. You want me on your team, I get full access."

Shepard nodded. "Fair enough. EDI, if you would."

"Acknowledged Shepard." EDI replied. "Jack now has full access to Cerberus archives."

Jack nodded. "Alright, I guess I'll stick around here for a while. Got someplace quiet and out of the way?"

Heavy raised his hand. "I know good place. Nice place to hide and wait for hangover to stop." Heavy gestured her to follow and left for the elevator.

One of the crewmembers scratched his head. "Huh, who would have thought those two would have a chemistry…"

"Oh hush, they're perfect for each other. The girl small but violent and loud, and the man tall and quiet. Opposites attract; it's so cute!" the woman next to him replied.

"…you need to stop reading so many damn romance slates." The former muttered.

…Mann World, Hale's Super-Secret Conference Room (Bathroom Stall 1)…

"What's this all about? Why haven't you told 'em yet?" Hale demanded of his smoky, one time lover.

She took a drag of probably her tenth cigarette that day and blew it into the air. "Mr. Hale, since you have a copy of the files, though I doubt you spend much time reading, allow me to read it to you."

She pulled out a data slate and tapped it a few times until the desired information appeared.

"The events that we have learned of, while important, have not yet reached appropriate levels of urgency to require Team Fortress to be recalled ASAP. Instead, we shall employ the tenth class who will retrieve them at his own pace to ensure minimal damage to himself, Team Fortress, and miscellaneous company assets. This message should be relayed to Seamus Hale, and then reread several times out loud to him as he does not like to read words that have more than three letters, and due to his actions causing frequent head injury, he will most likely forget. See attachment 12b for details."

She looked up from her slate. "Mr. Hale, are you calling me from a restroom?"

Seamus twiddled his fingers as a toilet flushed.

She sighed and took another puff of her cigarette. "If it wasn't for our history, I would have bought you out years ago and…never mind." She pulled up attachment 12b. "Alright Mr. Hale, where do I need to begin?"