Months passed, even years. Both teams fought against eachother until one day, Miss Pauling had to make a reunion: Redmond and Blutarch Mann had died. But there is more, a missing brother appeared: Gray Mann. This lost brother had a life extending machine and a horde of robots that needed to be fought.

- Are we gettin' paid for this? - asked Sniper. The answer was negative. Perfect, now they are going to fight a huge horde of robots for free. The best thing is that the robots run on money and they were allowed to keep it to upgrade their weapons.

On midday, there was a huge argument about the new places to fight and their new fate. They spread a map across the table and marked the locations where the robots were about to attack. Scout was cowering in a corner while Pyro tried to pat him to calm him down.

- Don't touch me, mumbles!
- Is leetle Scout afraid of tiny robots?- laughed Heavy, Scout huffed.
- I'm not afraid, I'm cold
- Son, we're all afraid of somethin' 'ere- Engineer assured him, patting his shoulder. Then he went back to the map- Alright, here we have the map. We're only 9, they're more than one hundred so... giddyup, boys!

We were driven to the landmarks where we expected to face the hordes. They weren't scared, but uneasy. They weren't fighting men, they were fighting machines this time. Sniper glanced at Spy, who was smoking in silence. He seemed the same as always, but he knew that he was as worried as the rest. The bushman placed a hand over his mate's and stroke it until they arrived to the place. It was a small town in the middle of the desert called Decoy. Soldier got out first and showed the rest of the team his contract.

- I have tricked the robots to think this place is the Mann Co headquarters!- he said, showing off all proud and American.
- This sucks on ice- Scout cut him off
- Bloody brilliant!- Demoman pushed the Bostonian away.
- Everybody ready?

Engineer had packed out his stuff and he already build his nest on the top of a building; Heavy and Medic were ready for an Übercharge as well and the rest of the team didn't even upgrade a weapon. Back in the frontlines, Engineer glanced at the modifications Soldier did to the buildings.

- That's just sad. He seriously misspelled "weapons" and "maggots".
- Soldier is stoopid
- Schweinhunds...
- Yo, incomin'!- shouted Scout as he arrived.

The rest of the team was there and the first wave arrived. Everything was going well until Pyro died. They were told to pay the respawn system to get back instantly but the firebug noticed something: he had enough money to respawn, but he couldn't. It even took longer to respawn. When the wave was completed, Pyro rushed to tell Engineer about it, since he was the only one who could understand his speech.

- Boys, Pyro said the respawn doesn't work quite well so try to stay alive the most as possible. Medic, ya know what to do.
- Ja. But you should go for zhe Übercharge canteen, since I brought my Kritzkrieg.

The Medic managed to keep them alive the whole mission until they were done in the end of the day. Since they were quite far from their home, they had to sleep there. Engineer with Pyro's help set up a few mattresses but there weren't enough of them, so they decided they should sleep in pairs. Heavy and Medic were going together, Soldier shared bed with Scout, who didn't want to sleep alone, and Demoman, who just passed out from celebrating the victory; Sniper and Spy got used to sleep together since they were in a relationship. Engineer would stay up, trying to fix the respawn and Pyro would stay by his side, since he didn't want to be alone. Medic asked the Texan if he will be good or needed his help, but the other one refused.

- I'll be alright. I can solve it.

In the middle of the night, Sniper woke up, grabbed a jar and walked out. Spy slowly opened his eyes when the Australian broke the cuddle and stood up, but he left him time to finish before joining him. He slept with the balaclava, pants and shirt on: spies have to keep their mysteries. He wrapped his arms around the bushman from behind and rested his head on his shoulder.

- We haven't talked in all day, mon chéri.
- I had to focus on not dyin'. Same t'ya.
- I trust the laborer, he can fix everything.- Spy took out a cigarette and offered another one to Sniper- and if not, promise not to die.
- Promis'd, and the same t'ya.
- Why are you worrying about me? I am a Spy, I know perfectly what to do.
- And I'm a professional, but I care for ya.

They sat on a fence, watching the night as they smoked and held hands. They preferred not to show affection for eachother in front of the rest of the team. Spy told him he could finally phone his aunt on a pay phone. She burst into tears when she knew here nephews were still alive, but the Frenchman had to tell her that not for too long. There were facing a horde of robots and a respawn malfunction. Sniper felt bad for both her and him and patter Spy's shoulder. They could listen to Engineer working and talking to Pyro, and the firebug responding in an intelligible language. The Texan told Sniper that he was the only one Pyro trusted enough to reveal him his face.

- He sure is a freak.
- We don't know, Spoi, we don't know.
- What do we know is that the laborer will fix the respawn.

But Engineer couldn't fix it. The following days, the respawn went from worse to worst to the point that if they got killed, they're dead forever. Helen wanted them to fight anyways, respawn or not, they needed to stop the horde. Before the last mission, everyone equipped on their health increasing loadouts, as well as three Übercharge canteens. Scout brought the Mad Milk, Soldier the Black Box, Pyro the Phlog (even if he was told he won't be able to put his teammates out), Heavy the Sandvich, Demoman changed to Demoknight with the Booties but still wielding the Sticky Launcher, Engineer will remain next to his dispenser and Sniper packed up the Cozy Camper. Spy decided to bring the Dead Ringer with him.

That last location was huge and, since the robots didn't fell for Soldier's trick, they moved to attack the Mann Co. headquarters. This time they even had Engineer bots with them. They were waiting for the first Scout bots to appear, all ready to face their worst nightmare. Everything went normal until the big robots came in. Engineer was struggling to keep alive both sentry and dispenser, as most of the teammates ran to heal there when Medic was busy. The German was exhausted: his sore bones were about to collapse while trying to keep Heavy alive. He knew that he wouldn't live much longer. Heavy saw him and tried to toss him a sandvich, but Medic didn't let him.

- Stay in zhe frontlines, you dummkopf...!
- But Doktor is about to be dead! Not good!
- I'll find a medical kit. Keep it up!

The German made his last effort to reach the kit, but Scout took it in the last moment. His vision became blurry and he felt weak, very weak. He waited until another kit appeared but the wait was eternal. Heavy promised himself to survive and protect his doctor no matter what happened to him. He saw Medic near to death and was about to go and give him another sandvich, but he couldn't leave his position. The robots seemed endless. He saw a Scout bot running and wielding his bat. The Russian had a bad feeling and he was right: he was heading for the doctor. He spun his Minigun to kill the bot but when he did it, it was too late. The German was bludgeoned to death.

Sniper saw it all from his position, but he had to concentrate on shooting the enemies with his rifle. He glanced where the Spy was, cloaked and sapping robots. He was doing well, in fact, running to the dispenser whenever he could was a great idea. He felt sorry for Medic and took off his hat for respect. He remembered the first time he joined Mann Co, when he had that doctor aversion. With the time, he learned that Medic isn't like the other doctors. He was a sadist with a liking for dismembering his teammates for fun. And after apologizing for the incident when they first met, they became sort of friends. Rest in peace, Herr Doktor.

The first wave left them almost without energy. Without the doctor, they needed to be more careful. Heavy felt like his whole world went down. He couldn't stop hugging the lifeless German and insisted on making him a proper funeral. Before the next wave, they put the body over a pile of wood and Pyro ignited it, causing a huge fire. They perfectly knew that this time, everything was serious. They went back to their positions, enraged and weapons upgraded.

Sniper went to see Spy. He was badly injured and the Australian insisted on taking care of them. He clumsily bandaged his mate, put band-aids everywhere and instead of sewing the open wounds, he added a few straps. The Frenchman flinched, but he thanked the attention by kissing his forehead. Everyone back to the front and ready for their next wave. They continued doing well until the last wave. Soldier gathered them the night before. He was more serious than usual and he took off his helmet, trying to look as calm as possible even if he wasn't.

- Gentlemen, tomorrow will be the day we finally kick those metallic asses back to the waste dump. Maybe it will be the last time we see eachother again. You were good teammates, real good. Maybe even a whole bunch of faggot maggots!
- We love ya too, soldier-boy- said Engineer with a sad tone in his voice and bringing an arm to the front- we can do it, we are a team.
- Let's do it!- Demoman placed his hand over Engineer's, suddenly Pyro and Soldier joined.
- Hudda!
- Now that's what I want to see!
- We make good team!- Heavy joined too.
- Aww fellas!- and Scout
- Let's have a go at it!
- Gentlemen? After you.

They decided to forget the sadness and celebrate their victories with everything was left in the provisions. Engineer recommended not to get too drunk for tomorrow, but Demoman didn't even listen. The songs lasted at midnight, when everybody got ready for bed. Heavy couldn't sleep at all without Medic by his side. Spy preferred to go out and smoke and Sniper soon joined him.

- I kinda feel bad for Heavy- said the Australian, sitting on the fence and taking out a cig from Spy's disguise kit.
- I must be hard to lose your partner like that. I'd feel the same.
- Ya wou'd?
- Of course I would. I promised I'll stay by your side until the end.
- Thanks mate.

Spy lean to him and kissed his lips, softly at the beginning and passionately afterwards. They stayed out a little more just to have a small private moment that will probably be the last one. But Spy knew what he was doing, he would be safe. But there's plenty of time to think about that, now he just had to let himself go and enjoy. They didn't care if they could have been seen, they didn't care of anything else, just the two of them. The next morning, they quickly prepared for the last wave. Sniper was upgrading his rifle and jarate when Spy walked by him and slapped his rear. The Australian looked at him.

- Bonne chance, mon coeur.
- G'luck t'ya, mate.

They were here. Soldier looked at his teammates from the frontlines and pulled his helmet up a bit. Heavy stared back at him, nodding in approval; Scout and Pyro ran next to Soldier, Engineer had his nest already built, Spy had his sapped and Dead Ringer on hand and Sniper scoped where the bots are supposed to enter. As the gate from the mine opened and the bots ran in, Soldier shouted, soon followed by his teammates:

- For Medic!

The first Scouts were killed and soon the mine was filled with Soldiers and Pyros. Thanks to all the teamwork, they were all defeated. The tanks were kind of a problem: without Medic's Kritzkrieg and the critic canteens they were quite hard to destroy. Engineer found himself running away from a Sentry Buster who kept following him and stopped to face it.

- You and me, hoss.

The Buster detonated itself and exploded; Engineer walked out of the explosion with his sentry saved. The tank was done now, but the worst had yet to come. Soon, huge heavy steps could be heard. It was a Giant Soldier bot with three Über Medic escorts and crockets. Sniper stopped scoping and reached his Cozy Camper, picking up a jarate and throwing it to the giant bot to make it slow down. The Australian made a sign of approval with the head to the Spy, who disguised as a Medic and managed to sap the giant bot and his escorts. He backstabbed the Medics but he couldn't finish the big one, which shot a crocket directly to him.

Sniper saw the fake corpse of the Spy flying across the mine and smiled. He always knew he was full of tricks. He scoped again and finished the giant bot with a neat headshot. There was a short pause which allowed Scout to finish picking up the money. But the pause didn't last any longer: a Giant Deflector Heavy entered, escorted by three more Über Medics. Spy, who had fully functioning sapper and Dead Ringer, ran disguised as one of the Medics to the huge bot and made an attempt to sap the escorts, but it was too late. They deployed an Übercharge to the giant, which was entertained destroying Engineer's buildings and badly injuring the Texan.

Sniper wanted to cover himself but he couldn't escape in time. A few bullets pierced his shoulder and he fell down the rock he was on. Grabbing the blood-soaked clothes, he looked where the Spy was supposed to be. There was one of the corpses the Dead Ringer created and he sighed in relief. But peace didn't last any longer; Spy had sapped the Giant Heavy and was attempting to backstab him. It didn't work. With the Dead Ringer half charged, the Frenchman could perfectly see how the Deflector metal Russian faced him and shot him, only to be destroyed a few seconds later by their Heavy.

- And that's for killing my Doktor!

The Australian ran to the Spy, who was lying in a puddle of blood. His eyes were open like plates at the sighting. He took the Frenchman in arms and shook him a bit, whispering to him and asking if he was alright. The icy blue eyes of both men met for the last time. Spy tried to smile but the forces were leaving him.

- Spoi, oi!- Sniper shook him again- Help! Need some help here!- but nobody really had the time to deal with it. It was the last wave and they were having a hard time trying to defend the bomb from being picked up. Spy's face went serious again and the Australian's heart accelerated.
- Je t'aime… mon coeur…

And the icy blue eyes disappeared. Sniper was trying to hold back the tears as he cradled his deceased friend. That man who had peeked on him through a hole in a wall. That man who made one of the best nights in his life. That man who stayed with him until the end. Now he was gone. The Australian's clothes were red; he didn't know if it was his blood or Spy's.

He remembered the first time they met in the showers and he stole his towel. Now there will be no one to do it. The moments together smoking cigarettes in the middle of the night were gone too. The morning cuddle disappeared forever. Sniper pulled the body closer and screamed. Not of sadness, but of anger. He was about to get up and face the robots again when something stopped next to them. It was a robotic Pyro who stared at them with curiosity and also pointing at them with its flamethrower. Sniper's eyes widened again.

Engineer was lying down, deadly injured, when he saw the enormous flames. He knew he couldn't make it to get there, but at least managed to get up and at least, die by his sentry. When the huge flames stopped, he said with a weak thread of voice:

- Sniper's a goner.

And the story comes to the end. Thanks for reading it, it was my first completed story in English (I'm not native so I apologise for any mistakes)