Author's Note:

Hey everyone! Chapter 10 is finally here! It's a long one and it was actually intended to be about twice as long as it is, but I decided to break it up into two chapters. That being said, you can expect chapter 11 to be here very soon!

Also if you guys really enjoy the story and would like to see these chapters pumped out faster, please leave a review! They help remind me that I'm not just writing this for an empty audience and that people are actually interested! You'll also help motivate me to get these chapters out to you faster!

Anyways, thank you all for taking interest in my story! Happy Reading!

Miss. Pauling flinched as the Administrator slammed her fists on the desk. The old woman's eyes were wide with an intense anger. They darted across the screens in front of her as she looked over each one, hoping that somehow, this was a mistake.

"Miss Pauling!" Miss Pauling jumped a little at the old woman's cross voice. "I believe I said that this arena was NEVER to be used again."

"You did say that." Miss Pauling replied, her voice calm.

"Then why am I seeing it on my screen and why are my mercenaries currently at war in this arena?" The Administrator questioned, turning to her assistant. Miss Pauling was in charge of ensuring the arena was closed off. Miss Pauling picked up her clipboard from the desk, looking it over.

"I had checked it off as done. There must be something wrong in the Spawn-teleport system. A glitch most likely. I will look into this right away, ma'am." Miss Pauling explained, her voice trembling a bit. She was terrified of the Administrator when she was angry.

"Do that and DON'T let this happen again. I'm canceling the mission." The Administrator hissed. She went to make the announcement when Miss Pauling grabbed her arm.

"Ma'am you can't do that! If you cancel the mission and they try to use the teleport system to get back to their bases, they could get teleported anywhere. Not to mention, if there's a glitch in the system then it could shut down at any moment. If anyone gets trapped in the teleport when it shuts down, they'll be gone forever. You HAVE to keep the mission going, it's best not to worry them." Miss Pauling explained, her words frantic. The Administrator pulled her arm from Miss. Pauling's grasp and glared at her for several seconds.

"Fine. I want that system fixed, Miss Pauling. Make it fast." The old woman hissed, turning back to the screens in front of her. Miss Pauling let out a sigh of relief.

"I'll have it back up as fast as I can!" The younger woman called as she ran off to fix the glitch.

The Administrator gave Miss Pauling a sideways glance as she ran off. She pulled out a cigarette, placing the cancer stick between her two lips. She watched the screens, paying close attention to the fire-lover, curious as to how she would perform in these circumstances.

*.-.-.-.-.-.-.*

I stood on the point with Scout, torching blue members that managed to get close and airblasting any rockets from the other team's Soldier that I could. I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared. In fact, I'm terrified. We were only a couple of minutes into the mission and I'm noticeably slacking. My movements were slowed and I wasn't concentrating. I know that I should be focused and moving around more to help protect and secure the point, but every time I get close to one of the saws, all I can think about is the previous Pyro being sawed in half and I freeze up.

The part that scares me the most, Blu Spy was nowhere in sight and as far as I could tell no one on Red had seen him either. Blu Spy has had it out for me ever since I broke his nose during our last private encounter in Teufort and the fact that I hadn't seen him, concerned me. But, I know he's here. He's watching and I'm positive that he knows I'm on edge.

It was hard for me to resist the urge to run to Soldier, Medic or Spy's side. I wanted nothing more than to know one of them had my back no matter what, but I couldn't. Soldier wanted me to be on my own for this mission and I was determined not to let him down, no matter my fear.

"Mumbles, look out!" Scout called, while beating the enemy Medic over the head with his bat. I snapped to my senses as the Medic dropped to the ground with a large bat shaped indent in his skull. I was so lost in thought that I was almost gutted by the Blu Medic…

"Yo, knucklehead! Mind joining us here on the battlefield? Let's go!" Scouts angry words hit me like a brick. He was right. I needed to get my head in the game. I'd done plenty of training with Soldier, I had no reason to be scared. When and if Blu Spy showed up, I would be ready for him. Even as I let that thought go through my mind, I knew that the fear would remain in the back of my head, no matter what kind of front I put on.

I looked to Scout, he was glaring hard at me. I nodded to him and waved my thank you. When he nodded back and returned to beating the other team with his bat, I turned to the Blu Demo and secured my flamethrower on my back, replacing it with my Scorch shot. The Scotsman was setting down sticky bombs near the point. This was mostly meant to remove Scout or myself from the point. Somehow Scout and I had maintained the point and anyone who got within 2 feet of it, had been killed. However, the Blu cyclops was now trying to end that. I smirked, not today.

I flicked my Scorch shot in the Demo's direction and pulled the trigger, sending a flare directly at the man's chest. When the flare hit, he burst into a beautiful fiery display of red and orange. I chuckled as the Scotsman's shock caused him to set off his bombs too early, ridding Scout and me of the trap. I allowed myself to watch the Blu Demo scurry around yelling in pain for a few moments more before switching back to my flamethrower and turning to find my next target.

*.-.-.-.-.-.-.*

The Blu Spy let a slow grin spread across his face. He'd been hiding, invisible and out of the way for the entire mission. He watched his favorite fire lover run around, avoiding the saws. He picked out the Pyro's fear the moment he stepped into the Spy's view. He knew about the footage of the last Pyro and how the fire retardant man had watched it play over several times. He knew that the Pyro was terrified that he would end up in the same position. He knew Pyro was looking for him and he knew that Pyro knew he was watching.

The Blu Spy enjoyed watching Pyro for every second that he did. Each little cautious glance the Pyro made over his shoulder, each Spy check on his teammate and each time he'd freeze up when moving too close to the saw filled the Blu Frenchman with joy. Watching the man be so distracted and scared was a treat for the Frenchie. The fire user's fear would make Frenchman's job easier.

Spy was waiting for the perfect moment, for the Pryo's fear to be at his highest and for him to be the most distracted. That's when he would make his move. This wasn't just a revenge tactic to get back at the man for breaking his nose, but a plan to help his team win. Blu team had been losing too much for the Spy's liking and the Pyro had gained too much popularity amongst his team. Blu Spy wanted to make the fire lover's life as hard as possible and what other way to do that than to make the Pyro look bad?

Spy chuckled as he watched the Red Pyro and Scout explode into pieces after finally taking a hit from the Blu Soldier. Once those two were out of the way, the Blu Scout had no problem securing the point for Blu. This, made things interesting. The Pyro would now have to run back through another Saw to get back to the point and all Blu team had to do was keep the point for 3 minutes. Blu Spy let a slow, evil grin spread across his features.

That was easy.

*.-.-.-.-.-.-.*

"The Enemy has captured the point!" Soldier grimaced at the Administrator's urgent voice. As if the woman actually cared about who had the point.

Truth be told, Soldier was irritated. No, he was furious actually. Furious, because Pyro was slacking. Soldier knew that Pyro wasn't at his best, and that angered Soldier more than anything. Even Scout had shown to be more focused during the mission and that was saying something. Soldier couldn't understand why now of all times Pyro had decided to be so distracted. If he kept that up, he would lose the mission for the team.

Soldier pushed the thoughts from his mind, making a mental note to discipline the fire lover later. He along with Demoman moved to retake the point before the other team had a chance to further secure it. After a few moments he noticed the fire user standing frozen in front of one of the saws. Soldier growled under his breath and fired another Rocket at the incoming Heavy-Medic team. He and Demo were attempting to hold the point long enough for Scout to get back on it, but every time the city boy got close to the point, he was annihilated on the spot. Pyro needed to be on the point with Scout, helping him and watching his back, but instead he was just standing there in front of the saws.

"Pyro! Get on this point! Now Maggot!" Soldier called to the freshly spawned Pyro. This seemed to snap the Pyro out of his daze as the masked man turned to Soldier.

"I want you on this point!" Soldier ordered. Pyro, after a few hesitant seconds, passed by the saw and made his way to the point. From there the man seemed to get back into the fighting spirit, setting the Blu team a flame while Soldier and Demo finished them off. When Scout finally got back, Pyro went to the defensive, trying to hold off any attacks pushed on to Scout. Now that Scout was back and Pyro was helping him, Soldier could focus on helping to defend Engie while he rebuilt his sentry. 1 minute left before the Blu's would win.

"Spy's sappin' my sentry!" The engineer's angered tone grabbed Soldier's attention. As the war veteran turned to help his hard-hatted friend, he saw the small man lying on the floor with a gaping hole in his back.

"Boys! We got a Sp-…!" Soldier began to yell, only to be cut off by a sharp pain in his own back and the silence that came with death.

*.-.-.-.-.-.-.*

I raced around Scout, the two of us protecting each other's backs to the best of our ability. Every time we started to take back the point, a Blu would get on the point and block us from doing so. 45 seconds to go. We needed to take the point back.

"Aye, yo, Mumbles! Get the Medic!" Scout called, pointing to the left of me. I followed his gesture and found myself face to face with the Blu Medic and their Sniper.

"G'day mate!" The Sniper grinned, aiming his SMG at me. Without a second thought I reached for my ax and threw it at the Medic, burying it deep into the German's skull. The Sniper, now less confident, growled and began firing. Scout hopped over me, firing several bullets from his pistol into the Sniper's skull.

"Look at you! You're terrible!" Scout shouted triumphantly at the Australian's corpse. After boasting about his kill, Scout withdrew my ax from the Medic's body and tossed it to me. I snatched it out of the air and turned to the Blu Pyro behind us, leaving Scout to himself. We two Pyros stared at each other for a few moments before swinging our axes, clashing them together.

"Oh no you don't!" I hissed, swinging at the Pyro again. I was not about to be killed by my opposite. The Blu fire user took the hit with a scream and swung at me in turn. I managed to duck under it before it hit me, but in turn I had to pull away from my weapon. The other masked man let a low laugh leave him as he torn my ax away from him and tossed it to the side. He began swinging his ax at me furiously. One swing after another. One of them in particular caused me to fall backwards, still, I pushed away from each swing as he backed me into a corner. When I had run out of space behind me and could no longer run away, the blu Pyro raised his ax above his head, laughing manically.

"No, I will not be taken down with my back against a wall!" I yelled. I wasn't about to let Soldier's training go to waste.

I braced my hands on the floor in front of me and swung my right leg out and under the other Pryo, pulling his feet out from under him. A cry escaped him as he fell, dropping his ax. I wasted no time hopping to my feet, running for his ax. I managed to grab it before my blue counterpart could bounce back up, but when I turned to swing at him he was coming at me. He grabbed my arms and tackled me to the ground, trying to tear his ax from my hands. I fought back, not willing to loosen my grip on the weapon.

I pushed the ax up and to the left, then I tugged hard to the right, ramming the end of the Ax's handle into the side of the Pyro's head. This jostled the Pyro just enough so that I could push him off of me and straddle his torso. While the man was still recuperating from the blow, I raised the ax up and brought it down hard on his head, burying the weapon within the confines of his skull.

I stared at the bloody mess that was under me, pleased with my work. Soldier would be proud.

"Hehe. Yeah, that's a skull fracture for sure." Scout's words bounced from his mouth as he looked over my handy work. I smiled, standing up and taking my flamethrower from my back. This wasn't over yet and I had to be ready. Scout handed me my ax and walked away. He must've picked it up while that Pyro and I were going at it. I took it from him, fixing it on my back. I adjusted my grip on the flamethrower and finally took a second to look around. It was just Scout and I. It was quiet.

"Hey! Help me cap this point, would ya mumbles!" Scout called, waving from his place on the point. I smiled and made my way over to my teammate. This was almost over, just a little while longer.

Then I heard it. The whooshing sound of a Spy de-cloaking behind me.

*.-.-.-.-.-.-.*

"Overtime…" The Administrator scowled as she spoke into the microphone. She was livid. This entire mission angered her to her very core. She wanted to be mad at Pyro, and she was to an extent, but at the same time, she couldn't really blame the girl for being scared. The young girl had done relatively well under the current circumstances, but that still wasn't enough to keep the old woman's anger at bay.

She glared at the screen, taking a long drag of her cigarette. The Spy was making his move and the Administrator knew it. She had known that this would happen from the very start of the mission. The Spies always knew about everything, it was part of their job. So, it wouldn't have surprised the woman if the Blu Spy had known about Pyro's knowledge of the previous Pyro's demise. It also would not have surprised her if he was going to use that against the Pyro during the mission today.

Normally, the Administrator would be excited about one of the Spies doing something like this, however, recently, the Blu Spies have been rather dangerous towards Pyros. The frequent deaths were adding up to an awful lot of paper work for the old woman and it was becoming bothersome. She was curious as to why it was always the Pyros being attacked however. Why was it just the Pyro and why only the Red one?

She pushed the thoughts away for the time being as she realized the Blu Spy was at it again. She frowned at the screen, taking another drag of her cigarette. The Blu Spy had managed to push Pyro on to one side of a saw, while he remained on the other, the side with the point. He was holding Scout, with a knife against the man's neck.

"Pyro! Get ova'ere and help me!" the Administrator heard Scout yell, but Pyro did not budge.

"Ah, ah, ah. One false move and you'll turn into sawdust." The Blu Frenchman threatened, motioning towards the saw in front of the Pyro.

"Mumbles!" Scout called out again. Pyro just stood there staring ahead. The Blu Spy chuckled.

The Administrator, wondering where the rest of the two teams were, scanned the other screens. She found that the Blu team was holding the rest of the Reds back at their spawn. Pyro and Scout were on their own. She returned her attention to the 3 mercenaries by the point.

"Ma'am! I fixed the glitch. Whoever lays claim to the point next can be called as the winner now and everyone can safely return to their bases." Miss Pauling called, running back into the room. She was coughing a bit when she approached the Administrator, watching the screens. "It's dusty as hell in there."

The two women stared intently at the screen, waiting to see how things would play out.

*.-.-.-.-.-.-.*

"Mumbles! Get over here and kill him! Take the point! Just go around the saw!" Scout yelled. I frowned. He's right. I can just go around. Scout will be killed, but I'll still be able to take the point. I had let this fear control me far too much during this mission, but not anymore. I adjusted my flamethrower in my grip and began my run around the saw.

Spy smirked and in one swift move he broke Scout's neck and ran towards me. I was surprised by this, but continued running. When he was close enough I set him on fire and while he screamed in pain, the man continued forward. He grabbed me by the shoulders, twisted me around and pushed me backwards. I stumbled and before I could catch my balance again, I felt a sharp pain in my right leg and screamed in pain as the saw pulled me down, the ridges clinging to my suit. The saw made quick work with my leg, shedding it. I continued to cry out in agony as the saw pulled me in more, quickly cutting into my lower abdomen. I looked at the Blu Spy who stood triumphantly on the point, no longer on fire. He was grinning down at me as my screams echoed throughout the building. A few seconds later, my world went black.