A/N: Sorry this is so late, I've got a lot of things I'm working on lately XD I'm so glad so many of you like this 3

After you had showered and dressed, you headed to the mess hall, where you knew most of the mercenaries would be sitting and eating breakfast.

Scout waved to you when you entered, and you waved back. "Good morning, cupcake!" Soldier yelled across the table. Engineer nodded to you from the kitchen, where he stood next to a stove. Pyro, Sniper and Demoman were also there, seated at the table.

You grinned. "G'morning, guys!" You chirped as you sat down next to Scout, who passed you a plate. "Pancakes n'stuff's on the table if ya want it."

"Thanks." You accepted the plate, stacking two pancakes on the plate and dousing them with syrup.

"So, you've got a battle soon?" You asked.

"YES!" Soldier yelled from across the table (again).

"Oh, okay. Cool."

"Solly, would'ja mind shuttin' up for once?" Scout groaned.

"I can not shut up! Sun Tzu was never told to shut up! Sun Tzu also said that the fourth constant factor in was is the Cmmander! Which is me! The Commander stands for courage! He stands for strictness! He stands for-"

He was interrupted again. "Shut up!" Scout, Sniper and Demoman yelled. You smiled. It was funny seeing the team together. They were like a big, defunct family.

Soldier rolled his eyes and went over to stand by, and possibly lecture, Engineer.

Sniper looked over to you. "So, Sheila, what exactly happened yesterday? Ya said you'd tell us what happened to ya."

uh-oh... What am I supposed to tell them? That I fell underwater and was saved by their old Spy, now in tentacle form? I can't say that, they'd kill him. What do I say?

After a moment of thought, you spoke. "Won't the others like to hear it too? I mean, it's not much of a story, but I hate explaining something twice."

Sniper shrugged. "Alroight, Oi guess that works too." You mentally breathed a sigh of relief. Now you had a bit of time to come up with a cover story.

Spy soon entered the mess hall, followed shortly by Heavy and Medic.

Spy silently sat down next to Sniper, not speaking a word to anybody else, and Medic sat down on your right, and Heavy on his other side.

"So, the Sheila was going t'tell us what happened yesterday, when we thought she'd died." Sniper announced. You mentally groaned, hoping he would have forgotten or something.

"Well... Nothing really happened... There's not much to tell... I woke up, and I was in the sewers, and I made my way up here. I got a bit lost and it took me a while to find my way back." You said quietly, avoiding eye contact with anybody, lest they find out you were lying.

Medic looked at you with an expression you couldn't place. It looked like a mixture of curiosity, confusion, and yet somewhat understanding.

"What?" You asked.

"Nozhing. I need to check your blood levels and zhings after zhe battle, alright?"

You nodded slowly. "Okay, sure thing."

Scout made a face. "You don't wanna go into that creep's office. He's got, like, jars of body parts and stuff!"

Medic sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you, zhat vas zhe last Medic, not me!"

"Yeah, but yer all the same! Creepy German dudes with knives!" Scout protested.

Medic sighed. It was obvious that they'd had this discussion several times. "Vhatever, Scout. At least I don't experiment on my own teammates." As he said those last words, he looked at you, searching your face for any sign of recognition. "Later." You mouthed, careful not to make a sound.

He nodded, and went back to eating.

About fifteen minutes later, the Announcer spoke over the loudspeakers. "Mission begins in five minutes!" The team hurriedly dumped their plates in the sink, and rushed out of the room. Scout was the last one to go, and he smiled and waved as he left. You waved back, hoping for victory for the RED team.

xXx

While both teams were battling, you stayed in your bedroom, reading a book. It'd been almost two hours when the announcer(it was still weird to you that your mom was actually the Announcer)'s voice rang out over the speakers. "Victory to RED team." You smiled to yourself, glad that 'your' team had won.

Her voice spoke out once again a moment later, a bit quieter this time. "Respawn has been deactivated. Dying between now and the next battle will result in a permanent death."

Woah, really? No wonder they had be so concerned last night.

A few minutes later, you could hear footsteps in the hall, and the loud voices of the mercenaries. After a moment, everything was silent.

You left your room, looking around the hall. There was blood all over the floor, probably from wounds left at the end of the battle.

A smaller trail of blood led to Scout's room, and the dark liquid was on the door handle. "Scout?" You called, knocking on his door.

"Yeah? You can come in..." He replied, though his voice sounded somewhat strained. You turned the door handle, some of the sticky liquid getting on you hand.

You wiped it on your jeans, and stepped into the room. It was about the same as you had last seen it, although it was much cleaner and there were no cans of BONK! littering the floor.

Scout was sitting on the edge of his bed, picking something out of his hand. You sat down next to him, seeing shards of glass protruding from his bandaged palms.

"Scout! What happened?" You asked, taking his hand in yours.

He winced. "Careful."

"Sorry."

"I was blown through an old storage room window. Got glass everywhere. Hurts like hell. I got it out of my side, the few pieces, but my hands took the brunt of it."

"Why haven't you gone to see Medic?"

"There's a line. Anyways, he creeps me out. Spy broke his arm again, and Sniper nearly lost his leg. I figured that I could get the glass out myself... I was wrong... Holy crap it hurts."

You frowned. "Do you have a pare med-kit? I can help you."

He smiled at you gratefully. "Yeah, s'under the bed. Thanks."

"No problem! You chirped as you reached under the bed, hand finally grasping the bulky med-kit. "Here it is."

He held out his left hand first. "There's less glass in this one."

You pulled a small pair of tweezers out of the med-kit, something you knew would be present in any medical pack. You had a similar kit under your bed, put there by your mom, in case of emergencies. "This is going to hurt, a lot."

He closed his eyes tightly. "Go ahead. I'm ready."

Slowly, you began picking out the large slivers of glass in his palm, trying to be as careful as you could. After a few minutes of silence, you pulled out the last shard of glass. "Alright, now your right hand."

He frowned. "Fine..." He switched hands, offering up his right palm.

You began picking out the larger shards of glass, until most of the big ones were gone. "Scout?"

"Hmm?"

"I need to take off your bandage to get these few tiny bits of glass out."

He froze, then pulled his hand to his chest. "N-no... I can do the rest. Thanks, bye!"

You didn't move. "Scout, you're right handed."

"Yeah, so?"

"You're going to have a lot of trouble getting the glass out with your left hand."

He closed his eyes. "Fine..."

"I need your hand."

He offered it up cautiously, and you slowly began to unwrap the bandage, starting from the top, by his fingers. The white cloth was bloody and wet, and you dropped it onto the floor out of the way.

You used the tweezers to pick out the last two tiny shards of glass. "There we go, I think it's all gone." You said, pulling a small cloth out of the med-kit and using it to wipe the blood off of Scout's palm. Then you noticed something. "Scout?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Where did you get this?"

"My stepfather did it. I don't want to talk about it."

"Well... Okay... But... You're going to need to talk about it with somebody. Would you rather that be me, or Medic?"

He shuddered when you mentioned Medic. "Fine... I'll tell you... Just... Don't make fun of me..."

What is Scout trying to hide? What did Reader discover? Find out next chapter!