I used this chapter, not only to bring in the heavy weapons guy, but to wrap up the Red Team in general. I am concerned that I may have neglected the Heavy himself, but there it is.
/
The gulag looked forlorn, abandoned and coated in frost and ice. Tattered Soviet flags hung from the flagpoles, and skeletons littered the ground, wearing old Soviet army clothing. One skeleton hung from a horizontal flagpole as if he had been thrown against it with some force.
Home sweet home for Pyotr Turgenev. Turgenev looked out over the frozen Siberian forests and bit into a ham sandwich. He carried his chain gun with him at all times, and had even recently taken to calling it Sascha, after his sister who had been killed during the revolt to reclaim the gulag from the Soviets who had controlled it.
He hoisted the barrel, looking closer at the trees. He could have sworn he saw something moving.
Then a man walked out from behind the trees. He walked slowly, to avoid being seen, but of course Turgenev had already seen him. Turgenev started spinning up the barrel of Sascha.
The man wore a long trench coat and a wide-brimmed hat. As a result, Turgenev could not make out his features.
"You there! Little man!"
The man turned. When he was halfway about, Turgenev caught the glint of a pistol in his hand. With a loud roar, Sascha spat out the equivalent of four hundred thousand dollars at the man, effectively chewing him up.
Turgenev shouldered the smoking chain gun and approached the man. Kicking aside his bloodied trenchcoat, Turgenev saw that the object he had taken for a pistol was actually a miniature television. He picked it up carefully, noting that it was almost completely undamaged.
The screen flickered, and Turgenev almost dropped it, before it settled into the image of an old woman in a purple suit.
"Mister Turgenev, I presume?"
"Why send this little man instead of coming yourself?"
"Because I don't like the cold. I despise it. Ordinarily I'd send Miss Pauling to do this sort of thing, but I thought, and Mister Mann agreed, that there was a significant risk of being shot to death. And as Redmond would say, you just can't find good assistants in this day and age. So, I borrowed one of Saxton Hale's flunkies, strapped this television to him, and sent him on his merry way."
In the background, there was a loud crash, and a French-accented voice said, "Merde," before being drowned out by a slurred Scotsman shouting something unintelligible about grass and asses.
The woman turned around and yelled at them to shut up. She then turned around and said, "Please excuse Nathan Drake. He is the only grown man I have ever met who habitually indulges in a sugar rush."
"Why did you go to such trouble to talk with me?" said Turgenev, with just a hint of sarcasm.
"There's no need for sarcasm, Mister Turgenev. These miniature TVs cost money. In any event, I-"
There was a loud splat, a crash like breaking glass, and a large red object flew across the background.
"Would you keep it down!" shouted the woman. "I am trying to communicate with Mister Turgenev!"
A voice with a thick German accent replied, "My apologies!" and then more quietly, "Could you please retrieve Mister Mundy's heart for me?"
A short, heavy-set man with a pair of soot-covered goggles around his forehead walked behind the woman's chair as she rubbed her forehead with one hand. A moment later, he returned holding a small red object out in front of him that looked suspiciously like a human heart with an electrode attached. He yelled back at the German in a Southern US accent, "Got it!"
After he passed, the woman continued, "As I was saying, my name is Helen. I wish to offer you a job with Redmond Mann's company. You will be paid five million U.S. dollars annually, or the equivalent in local currency, if you wish. In addition-"
She was cut off again, this time by a loud WHOOSH as a large black object flew overhead, trailing smoke. There was a loud popping noise accompanied by muffled laughter, and the object flew back in the direction it came. There was a loud thumping noise, the screen jittered, and dust fell from the ceiling.
Helen looked to her side and yelled angrily, "MISTER DOE! Restrain yourself!"
She looked back at the screen and said, "In addition, you will be allowed to keep and use that weapon." She gestured vaguely towards Sascha. "Should you accept, this television will give you all the information you need to join us."
"I will take job." Turgenev grinned.
/
I just noticed that this is the longest chapter. Huh. Anyway, there's the Heavy Weapons Guy. Next chapter will conclude the tale with the origin of the BLU team. Hint: the first year, Engineer and Medic recieved an extra million dollars in their paychecks.