When the round started, everyone seemed to step off at the exact same time. With the exception of the Engineers, Spies and Snipers, both mercenaries scattered immediately. Medics trailed behind whatever class they were supporting this time, while Katja moved to overheal everyone in her vicinity. The mechanism was simple enough; charge up the meter and release the Uber.

The Administrator smiled, watching the excitement on Katja's face. She had made an excellent choice hiring this girl. Her credentials were certainly impressive. She had been in the top percentage of her class, constantly striving to be the best and she had inside information on just how protective the young woman could be when it came to protecting her patients. It was better to get her earlier, when she was fresh out of college and naïve. It was so easy to lose a potential mercenary when they had something else to do.

Lukas ran straight for the entrance of the BLU base, flanked by a cloaked Damien. Evgeniy's minigun spun to life with a roar as Lukas rushed by, catching the young man in the leg. Katja and Tavish were right behind him, with Katja looking particularly furious. There would be hell to pay for laying a hand on her little brother.

Running towards gunfire was not something Katja would have ever thought she would do. The earliest years of her life had been during the latter years of World War 2. She witnessed the aftereffects of conflict with her own eyes. She desperately had wanted to mend the casualties of war, and in a way she was doing just that. A war where no one died…it was a hard thing to comprehend.

"Are ye ready, lass?!"

Tavish broke her from her thoughts. They were going to have to take out the sentry in the intelligence room.

"J-Ja!" The Medigun backpack whirred to life with a start. The Ubercharge was an unusual feeling, making the world seem as though it was in slow motion. Katja's heart felt like it was rattling around in her chest cavity and epinephrine flooded her system. The world around her disappeared as tunnel vision set in and all sounds halted.

Tavish shouted something in front of her, but the only sound she could hear was her heart pounding like a bass drum in her ears. Katja let loose a raucous laugh from the back of her throat, just for the hell of it. Nothing else seemed to matter; the world was contained in a single moment. Sticky-bombs flew from Tavish's gun and bounced off the walls, with each bomb flickering on and off madly. The sentry's clicks and beeps were silenced immediately by a series of catastrophic noises. When the world returned to Katja, she heard a booming shout. Immediately she knew what class that had to be. The Demoman charged at the Russian man with a cry of triumph. Their guns produced an incredible cacophony of explosions and bullets. With the BLUs occupied, Katja grabbed the Intel and rushed out of the room with papers fluttering behind her.

Heilwig took off after her, knowing full well that he was vulnerable and she had a head start, but he was unable to control himself. Katja looked back for half a second and in that timespan Heilwig could have sworn he saw a devilish grin on her face. She was going to give him a hard time about this. He almost enjoyed it.

"Ah, the pampered little poodle!" Katja jeered, grinning at him.

"You childish little buffoon…" He hissed through his teeth. Something whizzed past his head, clipping his left ear. There was no pain or feeling of blood pouring from his wound. That RED was quite a shot…

Once Katja managed to reach the bridge, he sped up, knowing full well that once she was on her side, things would very likely swing in her favor. He didn't want to run into the faceless Pyro again. Not after he'd been locked in a burning building by the freak.

Without warning, both mercenaries were engulfed in flame. The flame registered as little more than a temperature increase to Katja, making her sweat a little bit, but Heilwig immediately felt the burn and got a lungful of the scent of burning skin and hair.

The BLU grabbed the railing of the bridge and threw himself into the pond below, hitting the cold water and mud with a splash. It was better than burning to death, he decided. He saw the faceless maniac peering over the side of the bridge, watching him intently. The pyromaniac turned away and ran behind Katja, mumbling excitedly.

That strange creature was like a cat. 'Look what I did, I killed a mouse!' He grinned at the thought and started to swim back to the base. Trying to enter the sewers was a risky idea unless he had someone with him. He ducked under the sewer entrance and moved swiftly inside, feeling like a drowned rat. He could hear the Administrator loudly scold them for losing the Intel.

"Maaaaaaggot!" Like a bolt from, well, the blue, Leah charged down the stairs and into the water below, still bellowing loudly. Well, that would work. He could use her skills just as easily as he could Evgeniy's.

"Leah! Raus, raus! Come with me!"

They were behind by one point. If RED got two more points…or if the time ran out before BLU could score…

He wasn't about to lose to a cheeky little lower-class citizen! Certainly not!

As Katja ran with her own Soldier across the bridge, Heilwig went underneath with Leah. He had a good feeling about this. BLU would certainly steal victory today…

The pent up anger and excitement made for a dangerous, violent match. In the end, BLU wrestled the victory away from RED when the BLUs managed to reconstruct their sentry and Heilwig activated a charge halfway out of the RED base.

Fiammetta and Leah linked hands and leapt in a circle, shrieking and whooping at the top of their lungs. Several members of RED threw down their hats. Jane Doe grabbed Katja in some sort of one-handed bear hug and shook his fist at the sky.

"We will win the war! I swear it! Come on, Bucky, we have plans to make."

"Ja?" Katja said, a little confused but unwilling to question it.

As the Soldier dragged her back into the base, Diethelm followed after, thinking about something.

"Katja, are you on any nonselective β-blockers?"

"No."

"Not that you know of, hm? Are you experiencing any panic attacks? Do you notice any heart palpitations? Headache? Anxiety?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Ubercharging is an untested procedure…Some people have been known to develop malignant hypertension, usually followed by retinal hemorrhage, increased intracranial pressure, hematuria and renal failure…"

"I would know if I was experiencing any of that by now, I think."

"Can I have a word with you, Miss Ulrike?"

No one had even heard Miss Pauling come up, but they all turned to greet her when they did. She was with an woman that might have been in her forties. The woman's laugh lines, crow's feet and the few strands of grey hair poking out of her blonde bun betrayed her age, but it was obvious she took good care of herself. She was BLU, and seemed uneasy surrounded by so much red.

"This is Anna Kensington. She worked with the Spy you said you discovered…"

Damien moved between Mundy and Tavish, raising an eyebrow. It was obvious at first glance that Anna looked nothing like Serefima. Her skin was pale, with sharper wrinkles due to years of heavy smoking, while Anna obviously had no such vice. Damien had been suspicious when he learned of the Medic working at Hydro…in some ways he was constantly looking over his shoulder…

Anna examined Katja from head to toe. It was obvious that Katja was a younger woman. She might have been 5'7", and her face was rather youthful. She had a short-waisted figure with curvy, wide hips, broad shoulders and a rather ample bust. The muscle definition was obvious on her arms and legs, and a farmer's tan peeked out from her sleeves. She was a worker, it looked like. She didn't seem too intimidating, but if she'd been hired, she had to have some kind of special talent. To her knowledge, female mercenaries weren't that uncommon. Their gender didn't matter.

It only mattered if they could do their job.

"Thank you very much for taking care of Jean-Baptiste." She smiled slightly.

"Of course. BLU or not, he needed urgent care. I think I did well…"

When Baptiste noticed Anna, he let out a garbled noise. Whatever it was, it was clearly joyous. He had an IV attached to one arm and every time he moved, he made it jiggle.

"Oh my goodness." She covered her mouth in horror.

"I said something similar when I saw him. But…with worse language."

"Is he okay?"

"I think he's delirious, and his body is obviously trying to reject the organ…"

"Oh you poor dear." Anna stroked her teammate on the head. He seemed to like it.

"The respawn should take care of him…how on Earth did he end up like this, though? And out here…?"

"I didn't want to try anything risky like sending him back to respawn until I knew exactly where he had come from. You are sure this vill vork?" Katja asked as the drugged and delirious squidman tried to chew on her fingers.

"Yes, I asked our Engineer, it should work…" Anna nodded emphatically. Damien mentally checked her off a list of people. She was much too different. He knew that Serefima had to have been behind this poor creature, but where was she?

He knew she wouldn't stop until she got her self-righteous revenge, and he had to work faster than her…he'd have to locate her before she could locate him.

And Katja. Oh goodness, if Serefima ever saw Katja…

"Are ye thinking about her, Damien?"

"Oui. If she managed to escape the Administrator, it would only be a matter of time."

"She would find you." The Sniper finished, not quite liking the idea of a madwoman loose.

"She would find us." Damien corrected. "Or Katja."

Yes, they were all involved. They had alerted the Administrator about Serefima's issues, gotten her in trouble. They would all be on her hitlist.

"Ye really think she'd go after the wee lass?"

"Think about it. If she ever saw me anywhere near another woman, especially a younger woman, she reacted angrily. It didn't matter if they were involved with me or not, they made her jealous."

"You're right...especially since Katja is a doctor." The Sniper rubbed his chin thoughtfully, the full realization setting in. Serefima had even gotten mad at him when she assumed he was getting too close to Damien.

"We have to find out where she is, fast. The fact that she actually did this means she's gotten worse. She wouldn't think twice about hurting someone who had never done anything wrong to her."

"Aye, it's settled then. We're all in deep shite."

"Hey, Heilwig, you got something in the mail."

Heilwig raised an eyebrow. How did anyone know he was here in the first place? He took the letter and package from the Scout and looked at the address. His heart skipped a beat. The letter had come from his parents. How did they manage to find him? He smiled slightly.

"Good news? Huh? What's in the box?"

"I believe it is time for another round of tetanus shots." Heilwig cooed, causing the annoying young man to scramble away from him. That always did the trick.

In the safety of his operating theater, Heilwig opened the letter as carefully as possible, almost afraid of damaging the precious meaning to the letter.

"Heilwig Friedrich Wilhelm Luitpold Adalwin,"

Heilwig smirked, a little embarrassed. If anyone else knew about his full name…or his pampered aristocratic upbringing in general, he would never hear the end of it.

"It's been a long time, Heilwig. I want you to know that no matter what, we love you. After we heard you had been contacted by Mann Co, it was not hard to find you. When you left, we never stopped looking for you.

Heilwig, I'm not angry at you for running away. I know I pushed you too hard. I didn't notice you were struggling and I'm very sorry. Your mother and I are very proud of you, no matter what you do. I want to make that as clear as I can.

I know I was emphatic about you continuing the family business, but if you have another goal in life, I respect that. You are always welcome to come back home. I know I didn't notice your struggles and I'm truly sorry…

I wanted to give you my grandfather's pocketwatch later in life, but I think now is a great time to do this. You are, and will always be, my only son. Your mother and I love you deeply and want you to be happy."

When Evgeniy came in, Heilwig's eyes were bleary behind his expensive glasses, but he still had a smile on his face.

"Doktor, are you alright?"

"I have never been better." His eyes were wet and barely containing the tears he wanted to shed. Immediately he found some of his stationary and began writing. This had to be immediate.

"It was nothing that you did. I was the one pushing myself too hard, and I know that I would have even without your encouragement. I am not angry with you, either. I just wanted to try something new. I enjoy this job, but I miss you both very much. I think all of us miss home.

I do want to come back some day to manage the winery. I have always wanted to follow in your footsteps. Honestly, I wanted to prove to myself that I was capable of doing things on my own. Even with your reassurance and support, I doubted myself. I could never hate you.

I miss you all, and it hurts me not to be there. Thank you…"

Heilwig had to take a breath. There was just so much bottled up inside of him.

"…for everything you have done, and thank you for the watch. Can we stay in touch?"

Heilwig chuckled softly. The old, antique pocketwatch was exactly how he had remembered it. The silver chain had begun to tarnish over the long years; despite the meticulous care it had been given. If his family ever had an heirloom, this was it. He sorted through the items in the box. Among the frayed papers that had once been his very first violin composition was a bottle of his family's wine. White grape…his favorite kind. His parents knew him so well.

"Your parents make wine?"

"Yes. My father is a very famous winemaker; my mother is a pianist. I grew up very well. I suppose that one day I realized that my parents had been doing everything for me." He uncorked the bottle and let the familiar scent fill his senses. Oh, he had missed that.

"Is it good?"

Heilwig gave his friend a smirk. "Really? 'Is it good? Ask the Germans. 15% of our imports go there. Perhaps we should celebrate our victory tonight. I am eager to channel my lavish upbringing. Just for one night…then everyone can get back to being slobs."

D'aww, Heilwig, 2Fort's very own genius billionaire playboy philanthropist. Of course, he's no playboy…he's probably afraid of girls, anyway.

Well, at least he's starting to loosen up. And even though Damien finds them all annoying, it seems he actually is concerned with his team's safety.