When the match started the next day, Sniper moved deeper into the battlefield than he normal would. He knew it was a risky move, but he was curious to see if the BLU Spy was okay. Which was an unacceptable thing to even think about, so he tried not to. He was just taking up a more aggressive position than usual to throw the enemy off, that was all. Definitely.

The BLU Spy wasn't usually the easiest of guys to find though, so Sniper thought it was unlikely he'd spot him any time soon. To his surprise, he was wrong.

After around ten minutes, he caught a glimpse of the Spy moving through a derelict building on the other side of the main bridge. A moment later he disappeared under his Cloak and Dagger.

Frowning with concentration, Sniper tracked roughly how far he thought the BLU could get before his cloak needed to recharge again. His guess proved to be spot-on. The Spy uncloaked directly in his sight, looking around while he waited for his watch to recharge. If Sniper had been in any of his usual spots, he never would have seen him.

As the Spy looked around, Sniper caught sight of his face and his frown deepened. The BLU still had the busted lip from yesterday. He hadn't been to see his Medic, despite common sense and Sniper both telling him to. As well as that, the Spy was now sporting an impressive black eye. Sniper's frown deepened further. The match had only just begun. If the Spy was all the way back here, the only way he could have been injured would have been with a long-distance weapon like a rifle or a rocket launcher, neither of which would have left him with just a black eye.

What had he done then, ran into a wall at the start of the match? Fallen over his shoe laces? Accidentally punched himself in the face?

The Spy looked in Sniper's direction and then did a double take. Before Sniper could react, the Spy cloaked. Sniper cursed quietly to himself and ducked back out of view.

Urgh. What an idiot, letting himself get caught looking. He should have blown the Spy's head off when he got the chance. It would have saved himself some embarrassment and probably would have fixed the Spy's black eye for him. Except…

Except, the bruise hadn't looked that fresh now Sniper thought of it. He'd hurt himself (and been hurt by others) enough to know exactly the sort of colours bruises went over time, and roughly how long it took.

The Spy hadn't had that bruise at the end of the match, but he had to have received it before today's battle, and likely, several hours before then.

So last night most likely. Maybe he'd just got black-out drunk with the Demo or something. He didn't seem the type to, but how would Sniper know? He knew nothing about this new Spy. He didn't need to know anything about this new Spy. He needed to start acting like a professional again. This was ridiculous. This was an enemy he was worrying about; a man he was literally paid to kill over and over, and who was paid by the opposite team to do the same in return.

Sniper shook his head hard, annoyed at himself. This stopped here, before he did something really stupid.

Like get himself fired while on Contract Zero.

That sobering thought was enough to make his mind up once and for all.

From now on he'd treat the BLU Spy the same as any other enemy.

Even with the distraction of his split lip and slightly swollen eye, the Spy felt like he'd done well for himself that day. True, they'd lost again, but it had been a close thing. The Spy knew he'd done his very best though, and while not usually the type to lay blame at anyone else's feet, this loss had definitely not been on him.

As soon as respawn pulled him through, the Spy dumped his belongings back in his locker and moved for the door as quickly as he could without looking like he was running away. The Soldier was most certainly the type of man to hold a grudge, after all.

The Scout beat him out, calling, 'I win!' back at the rest of the team, none of whom had been aware there was a race to leave, or cared.

No one followed the Spy or called after him, which wasn't unusual, but it was nice not to be followed by any shouted threats of violence after yesterday.

In fact…

It had all been too quiet, with the usual exception of the Scout. Suspicion prickled at the back of the Spy's neck. He cloaked as soon as he rounded the corner at the end of the corridor and retraced his steps on light feet.

He stopped a couple of meters before the respawn room, just before his watch ran out of charge. He stayed still and invisible and listened carefully.

'It's within our rights to do!' he heard the Medic say.

'What if we just get someone worse though?' asked the Sniper.

'This one is the worst!' said the Demoman with a derisive snort.

'Hudduh-huddah!'

The Spy stared at the Pyro's shifting shadow as they threw up their hands in disgust. He couldn't actually see anyone from where he was standing, but he recognised all their voices. And what this conversation likely meant for him.

'Look, to me the only good spy is a dead spy, but honestly? This guy is definitely not the worst I've had to work with. He's not even in the bottom five.' That was the Sniper again. The Spy had never been sure what to make of him, and it sounded like the Sniper wasn't too convinced about him either. "Not the worst spy" was definitely not a compliment, after all. Especially to a man who'd once been one of the very best young up and coming talents in the espionage world.

'Hell, have you all forgotten how bad the last one was?' the Engineer asked, his voice quiet. The Spy was surprised to hear him talk up at all. His short stature, wide frame, and reliance on intellect and machines to do most of his fighting for him left him almost as much of an outsider as the Spy

'He was an asshole, but he was an effective asshole,' sniffed the Medic. 'None of us miss him, but we need a better spy.'

'No we don't!' barked Soldier. 'We don't need a better spy; we're good enough to win without any dirty little backstabbers!'

'I've already put the application in,' Medic said.

'Urgh, you idiot!' Sniper snapped. 'Yeah, this Spy had his weaknesses for sure, but who knows who we'll get next! What if it's someone who really is completely useless?'

'This one can't even speak!' Medic pointed out, hotly.

Sniper ignored his interruption. 'What if we get a complete asshole like the last? Someone who plays mind games with us for fun and start fights and set us against each other just because he's bored and we're too fucking stupid to realise what's going on?'

'Hey!' Demoman shouted.

The Sniper barrelled on. 'Because don't you idiots get it? That's what this has all been about. Not this current Spy, but the last.'

'What do you mean?' the Heavy asked levelly, speaking up for the first time.

'Urgh, it's…' the Sniper began, pausing as if to pull his thoughts together. From what the Spy had seen of him, he didn't seem to like being the centre of attention, and wasn't much of a talker to begin with.

'Okay, so yeah, the current guy is a bit...odd, with the not being able to talk and all. It's definitely a disadvantage, but he's been doing fine out there for someone new to the team despite that.'

Someone snorted, the Spy couldn't tell who.

'Really,' the Sniper insisted. 'This is exactly what I mean. I'm not naming any names, but there's some of you who definitely took more time to settle into this place than him.'

That was met with a silence, the Pyro's shadow shifting across the wall once more.

'He's not the problem. It's how much the old Spy got into our heads.'

'He never—' the Demoman started.

'I've heard the things you've said to the new Spy! Things about the last you would never have said to his face, even when drunk as hell!'

That seemed to shut the Demoman up.

'The last Spy was a dick. We all know it. We all hated him for it. He was good at his job but he was a dick. Then one day, his gone, poof! Just gone. We don't know why. We never got any proper answers, not from him, not from BLU, not from the Administrator. All we know is that he decided to up and leave. And then we we're all left here, down a man with no explanation. Down a man we all hated with no resolution and no chance to give him that one last good punch in the face we all wanted to give him to say goodbye. So what happened?' He let the question hang in the air. Someone muttered something too quiet for the Spy to catch. The Sniper either missed it too or decided to ignore it.

'What happened is we all took it out on the new guy. Old Spy's gone, but look, here's a new one who has no idea what he's walking into the middle of and can't even answer back! How do we expect a teammate to get better at working with us when we won't work with him, huh? What chance did he have? And is it going to be any different with the next one we get? All we've done is to wait right until one Spy settled in, only to chuck him out in place of another newbie who could take even longer to settle! We're just starting over from scratch!'

The Medic made a huffing sound. 'Well, too late now,' he said, sounding not the least bit moved by the Sniper's speech. 'As I said, I've already filed for a new Spy. And we've already been granted permission.'

The Sniper sighed audibly, all the wind taken out of his sails. He said no more, clearly feeling defeated.

Recognising that as his cue, the Spy turned around and moved silently back down the corridor.

BLU had been his last chance. This base a last chance on top of that. Would BLU really allow him a third?

If so, what kind of people might he end up with next? And if not...what was there left for him? He'd been banished from his organisation. Used his last connection. Had enough money from this job to rent a place for a few months maybe, but where? What would he do? He technically didn't exist. Not officially anyway, he never had. Who would employ him?

The Spy forced the panic and the misery down, taking deep breaths as he locked himself back in his room. He slumped down onto his bed, staring blankly at the door. He'd survived worse, he reminded himself. Even with everything stripped away from him, he was still clever and resourceful.

He'd survive.

It just wasn't the same as living.

The Spy returned later the day to find the note gone.

He returned the next day, but no answer had been left in its place.

Or the next.

Or the next.

Or the next.

But he'd find out soon enough.