Chapter 10: Southern Discomfort

Rank 3: The Engineer

"You dun incurred my wrath, son."

The Medic's medigun healed Travis up nicely, fixing his broken jaw. Travis nudged it a little with his fingers and moved his mouth around until he was convinced that it was ok.

"Thanks doc."

"Nein problem." He replied. Travis sighed a little. "Vat is wrong mein commerade?" he asked worridley.

"Nothing doc…well, ok, it's not nothing. It's Sylvia."

"Ze French woman?"

"Yup. She's been avoiding me for fucking ages and it's pissing me off." The Medic hummed to himself for a moment.

"Vell, maybe she's just busy wiz her vork?" he suggested. Travis shrugged.

"Never stopped her in the past…" he mumbled. Suddenly, the Medic gasped, remembering something.

"I saw her vith ze Spy ze other day." Travis raised an eyebrow.

"The Spy?"

"Ja. He is also French." Travis rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"You don't think they're…"

"It iz possible." Travis' gaze narrowed.

"Is the Spy in the ranks too?"

"Ja."

"Good…now I have a target." Travis gripped his beam katana with white knuckled fury. Suddenly, the phone rang. The Medic chose to answer it.

"Ja? …ja, he is here." The Medic handed the phone to Travis.

"Hello?"

"Greetings Mr Touchdown." The voice sounded both smug and French. Travis already hated this man on the phone.

"And you are?"

"Zat is not important." He replied. Travis was almost crushing the phone. "All zat matters is the message I have for you."

"And what, pray tell, is that?" Travis twitched.

"Zat if you continue through the rankings, you will fall. So, I suggest you back out now." Travis was furious now. How could he fucking ask him that? How smug could he be to call his opponent before they were even fighting? Travis wanted to slash the guy in the face. "However, if you decide not to take my advice, then go to the building site in the north. Rank 3 awaits you." And with that he hung up. Travis hurled the phone at the wall and it smashed into a million pieces. He nodded a farewell to the Medic, and charged outside to Schpeltiger, racing off to his next location. The Medic watched him with a quizzical look…

On the other end of the line, the red suited man put down the phone. He looked over to the blonde woman and smiled.

"Well, I warned him."

"You knew as well as I did that he wouldn't give in."

"I know…" the suited man lit a cigarette. "But it was fun making him angry." Sylvia looked away and fiddled with a button on her jacket nervously. The suited man patted her shoulder comfortingly. "Mon petit fleur. Zere is no need to worry anymore. If he doesn't fall to zose machines, he will fall to me."

Travis' motorbike ate up the road, screeching to a halt outside of the construction site. He leapt off it and charged through a gap in the fence. He looked around, scanning for his opponent.

Then…he heard something. Music… guitar music specifically. He looked towards its source. A man was sitting on some steel girders, playing an old brown guitar. He wore a yellow hardhat, goggles, brown overalls, and Travis could spot a red metal toolbox and a wrench by his feet. He also wore a single yellow glove. Travis recognised him.

"You…so you're in this too?"

"That I am son." The Engineer replied, continuing the strum his gentle tune. Travis felt some of his anger ebbing away.

"So why'd you build a weapon for me if you knew I was in the ranks too?"

"Fair game. I built that so you'd have a fighting chance." Travis' eyebrow arched.

"So you don't think much of me?"

"Not at all. It's just I think a lot of myself." Travis smiled. At least the guy was honest.

"Well, I don't see a weapon on you, unless you plan on using that guitar in some way." At this point, Travis would expect no less. The Engineer shook his head.

"I got something better…" he smiled as he continued strumming.

"Then bring it out! Come on, I'm itching for a fight!" Travis took out Team Killer and let the blade appear. The southerner put down his guitar and picked up his wrench. He nudged the toolbox next to him with his foot. In an instant, the toolbox opened up, and a large machine began to construct itself before Travis' eyes. It turned into a large three legged machine, with two mini gun turrets, similar to what the heavy had used, and a big four holed box at the top, presumably a rocket launcher. Travis' jaw dropped.

"Start prayin boy." said the Engineer, smirking. The sentry beeped and it turned to Travis. Travis quickly dived behind a nearby break house to dodge the incoming rockets and bullets.

"Fuck…" Travis mumbled. He got back up and started sneaking round the side of the break house, peering round the corner. The second he did, the sentry beeped again, and opened fire. Travis cursed and ducked back again.

"Ya can't hide forever shorty!" the Engineer taunted. Travis could hear him strumming his guitar again. Travis peered round the corner again, then ducked back before the sentry could shoot. He had an idea that just might work. He climbed up the break house wall and got onto the roof. He crawled close to where both the Engineer and his sentry were. He crept closer, keeping low to the rood, quietly, slowly, edging his way to the lip of the building. Then, he got to his feet and leapt off, beam katana above him, landing nearby to the Engineer and his sentry. He landed on top of the sentry and slashed at its master. The Engineer grimaced as Travis' beam katana sliced his guitar in half…but…it had barely scratched him! Travis' eyes went wide. Normally an attack like that would've cut his opponent in two, but it had only left a red mark on the Engineer's arm. That was when he noticed it. He had some weird red energy flowing around him. It was linked to another machine the Engineer had built, a large rectangular device that beeped consistently. The Engineer grinned at Travis.

"I built a dispenser here. Sorry son." He then took out a pistol and shot Travis in the stomach. Travis fell back, dropping his beam katana, clutching his bleeding wound, then he swore again as he heard the sentry beep, as it turned down at him. Thinking fast, Travis kicked it, sending the sentry falling onto its back, launching its rockets into the sky. The Engineer grumbled and grabbed his wrench, moving over to Travis to presumably beat him senseless with. Travis rolled away from his first strike, grabbing Team Killer as he got back up. He ignored the pain from his wound and focused on his southern opponent. He slashed diagonally, just to have him block with his wrench, and then take out the pistol again for another shot. Travis managed to block in time, but it gave the Engineer time to run back over to his sentry and right it. Travis realised what he was doing and rushed at him to stop him.

"Fuck you and your godamn machines!" he shouted, as he slashed horizontally at the sentry, and then vertically. His first strike cut its chain guns in two, and the vertical strike cleaved the missile launcher in two. The Engineer grimaced and backed off a little bit. Travis turned to him.

"Well now what? I broke your toys." He grinned. The Engineer shook his head.

"Far from it. I'm gonna blow that dumb look off your face." Then he took another shot at Travis and ran behind the pile of girders he'd been sitting on. Travis blocked with Team Killer then chased him behind the girder. Only he wasn't there any more. He'd vanished. Travis looked down and spotted a strange, glowing, spinning device. Another of the southerner's toys no doubt. Well at least he knew how he'd escaped now. But before he chased him, Travis needed a little healing. He moved over to the dispenser the Engineer had left behind and sighed with relief as he felt his wound healing up, the red energy flowing over him. Suddenly, to his left, the sentry exploded. Travis looked over and raised an eyebrow. Why had that happened? He'd just disabled it, not done anything to destroy it. He caught on when the dispenser exploded too. The Engineer was destroying what he'd built. Which meant…that spinning device was bound to go next. Travis ran around the girders and stood on the teleporter, warping him to the top of the unfinished building. He spotted the Engineer holding a box with a button on it, no doubt for destroying his machines. He frowned when he saw Travis appear.

"Well you're smarter than you look slick." He admitted before taking out a shotgun. "But you're not smart enough."

"Yeah yeah." Travis swatted away his comments like flies. "Just shut up and have your little last stand." And Travis charged at him. The Engineer fired three shots, Travis blocked each one. He noticed his blade was starting to lose power. He'd have to recharge soon. Not before he'd cut this guy to pieces though. Suddenly, the Engineer grabbed another toolbox and dropped it in front of him, as it started to set up. Travis snarled and jumped at it, slashing it in half before it could fully set up, suspecting it to be a sentry. But he was wrong. The Engineer had tricked him with a dispenser. Now Travis could hear him running down the wooden and metal scaffold. Travis swore and chased him, running down the wooden walkways. He skirted round a corner, only to find the Engineer erecting another sentry. Travis swore again and leapt up to avoid its shots, coming down slashing at it. But the Engineer blocked him with his wrench and forced him back. Travis retreated behind the corner to avoid any more fire from the sentry.

"This shit again? Really?" he shouted around the corner.

"It works for me. I AM trying to win ya know." The Engineer retorted. Travis thought for a moment and realised his beam katana was out of energy. He retreated back a bit and charged it up with a good shake. It was then that he got another idea. He raced back up the scaffold until he was certain he was above the Engineer. Then, he pointed Team Killer down, jumped, and forced his weapon through the wood, falling downward. Luckily, he'd placed it correctly, and his blade met the sentry. Unfortunately, he cut straight through it and continued falling through the scaffold. He turned off his beam katana and grabbed one of the metal bars to stop himself breaking through any more wood. He looked up. He was only two floors lower now. He had to get back up before the hardhat escaped. He ran back up, up to the next floor, encountering the Engineer on the way. The Engineer whipped out his pistol, but they were too close for it to be of any real use, and Travis knocked it out of his hand. He forced the Engineer back, to the lip of the scaffold. He looked at Travis…and cracked a smile.

"Good match hoss." He admitted, tipping his hardhat slightly.

"Yeah. Same to you old man." And Travis struck the final blow, cutting the man in two, and watching the torso half fell down to the ground below. He looked down from his high perch. The torso had landed on the dusty ground, blood seeping into the cracks of the dry earth. Travis thought back to the times he'd seen the Engineer with Naomi. Why hadn't she told him about him? But that was a problem for another day. For now, he just wanted to go rest up. He mounted Schpeltiger, and set off once more into the sunset.

AN: Sorry for uploading this late, my college has blocked FF so yeah, that was irritating to find out Anyway, it should go without saying that over the holidays i may not be uploading weekly considering Christmas and revision for my January exams. So, i probably won't be uploading any new chapters until the 19th of January. Unless i get bored and skive work w So yeah, just wanted to explain that. Merry Christmas readers ^^