MiR V2 Chp. 11 A0


Vale

"Bloody Hell, lad! What in the name of the Queen are ye doing with these kids?" Asked Demoman to a smugger than usual Scout.

The Scotsman had been stumbling around the streets looking for somewhere that sold any form of alcoholic beverage to willing patrons. Problem was that any place he did find was so packed with people that Demo didn't want to wait upwards of around like twenty minutes or something just to get a drink. Granted that he could totally just start drinking from his Scrumpy Bottle, but what good would being in a different world be if he didn't try any of the drink it had to offer?

Anyway, he was stumbling around when he happened back on Scout. Who just so happened to have taken over the little charity operation he saw. Demoman immediately knew something was up when he saw Scout with these kids. Scout doesn't just randomly help kids on the street out of the goodness of his heart.

"Sup, Demo! Just showin' the kids here how orphans make money back on Earth! Show him, kids!"

Demoman blinked on in bewilderment as suddenly all eight orphan kids ran up to him and gave him a big group hug. It was a little awkward since all the kids weren't taller than his legs, but Demoman didn't attempt to resist when they surrounded him.

"Hugs? You thought these kids how to hug?"

"Pretty much, yeah! It's like one of those 'hugs for charity' things back home! If it works there, then why not here? Know what I'm saying?" Smiled the Boston Lad towards his Scottish friend, who didn't look as enthusiastic about this as he did suspecting that it was going to fail. "Oh yeah, you got to pay up five bucks for each kid now. That's what, eight kids?"

"Five bucks for each - ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR BLOODY MIND!? What kind of mad git would pay that kind of money for this!?" Raved Demoman at this complete fucking scam. Scout didn't seem that bothered by it though as he kept on grinning the way he always did.

"I dunno, but it's for charity pal! Pay up! Come on, don't keep the kids waitin'!"

"Why I ought to beat-"

"KIDS! Don't forget we got kids here!" Said Scout, but then he yelped when Demoman still moved forward as if to sock him the face. Now Scout's no stranger to fighting his own teammates, but that's kinda exactly why he was wary of fighting Demo now of all times. If there's any group of people who're specialists in the field of beating the fuck out of Scout, it was his teammates. That also goes the other way around, but still. The dude didn't want to get his good looks messed up before the ladies started rolling in. "Whoa whoa whoa! Geez, take it easy Demo! I was just jokin', alright? Pay up five bucks and that's it." He said, scooting the kid with the donation box over to Demoman so he could put the money in. The Scotsman hesitated a little, but he eventually gave in and put five bucks into the box. As in he put actual money from Earth and not this world's currency. Scout should've been more specific on that, but does he really care about that?

"Ugh... I still don't see why you're with these bloody kids." Groaned the mildly disgruntled Scotsman. Scout then came up to his side and whispered into his ear.

"Psst, don't tell the kids this, but it's cuz I'm trynna get some girls, see?"

"What? Are ye serious?"

"Yeah! Girls love kids! I seen it with my own damn eyes earlier!"

Demoman was right. Scout's a silly stupid lad who doesn't know what he's doing half the time. He would've said something about how this wasn't going to work and how Scout was dumb, but then some people started coming in. Specifically, a family of tourists from Mistral with some fine girls who look around Scout's age with them.

"Nice talkin' to ya pal, but SCRAM! You're gonna scare away the customers with your drunken crap..." Said Scout right before pushing Demoman away and joining up with the kids. The Scotsman was this close to giving Scout a donk to the head, but he let it go. He's got some drinks to find anyway.

Scout's a pretty crafty guy if I'm being honest. After he'd seen the orphan kids running a charity stand all by themselves, he went right over to them and convinced these kids that he'll help them out. Technically, he's not lying. He definitely helped them out when he devised a little plan that involved lying and basic scamming. The clever Bostonian son of a gun switched up the charity's whole deal when he had it go from a regular donation from the good of a heart to a 'pay to hug a kid for charity business'. It was working really well. Far better than what the kids had going for them earlier. Though people were already donating to them before Scout came along and spiced things up, they were now lining up by the dozens to give the super cute kids a hug. Scout telling the kids to specifically act extra innocent and cute also didn't hurt.

"Hugs! Hug a freakin' kid for five bucks of whatever money you got!" Yelled out Scout with a smile.

It was a legitimate smile too for he was excited to see that the majority of the people coming in from the streets were women. There were also men and other children who were not orphans coming up to stand, but that was mostly because they got friends or female family members dragging them into the line. However, I feel like I should point out that there were two lines in this scam here. One line for girls that literally said "single pretty ladies", and the other one said "everyone else." The line for 'everyone else' was vastly longer in comparison...

"Awwwww!~ How cute!" A girl who appeared to be a regular Human cooed upon it being her turn. "Are you like a helper at this orphanage or something?" She asked politely.

"Please, what kinda question is that? You bet I am! It's hard work takin' care of these kids all day." He smiled while he lied, too confident in himself like he always is. "We're trynna raise up all the money we can to make things easier for the kids, you know?"

"I understand... five lien, right?" She asked with her purse held up.

"For a pretty thing like you? I'll drop it down to two bucks."

"You mean two lien?"

"Whatever. Just two of that stuff if you wanna hug a kid." He shrugged with a smile.

She seemed a little lost on why he was cutting the price down just for her, but she wasn't complaining. The girl happily brought up two lien and gave it to the little girl Scout told to keep track of the money, and now she was faced with the difficult decision on what kid to hug. She was having such a hard time that she ended up standing there for a whole minute. It was here that Scout had an excellent idea he remembered that he tried to pull on Demoman earlier.

"I might've forgot to say this, but you can pay to hug each kid too!"

Welp, that did it for her. There was only eight kids so that meant sixteen lien. She didn't seem bothered that she paid up fourteen lien just to hug a few kids, so she was either a charitable person or just another a ditzy gal caught up in the scam. The scam may or may not have escalated when Scout had one of the kids post up another sign that said 'single pretty ladies' could pay two lien to hug a kid, and another sign was put up specifying that everyone else has got to pay for each kid they hug. So maybe it did escalate when people in the 'everyone else' line got a little mad when it got pretty clear that this was a scam.

"Hey! Why the Hell do we got to pay five lien to hug a kid and they don't?" Some man behind like eight other people in the 'everyone else' line yelled angrily. The other people in that line were murmuring in agreement and were slowly growing in frustration. It only got worse when Scout ignored him to talk to the same girl that just got duped into paying fourteen bucks.

"Yeah, so I'm a pretty nice guy takin' care of these kids and stuff. Wanna check out my muscles?" Grinned the Bostonian Bastard to the mildly impressed girl. He then flexed his horribly unimpressive muscles. "Tell you what, how about you give me your phone number so you and I can meet up some time?"

"Are you going to bring the kids too?" Asked the ditzy girl excitedly.

"Uh... sure!" He smiled, totally oblivious to the angry mob slowly building behind him.

Scout wasn't aware of the situation until one of the kids, a little Faunus boy who was like a fox or something, tugged on the back of his shirt with some fearful urgency. "Mister Scout? I think we have a problem..." The boy said, making Scout lazily turn around to look at him with slight annoyance.

"What is it, kid? Can't you see I'm busy here?"

"Those people are getting really mad at us!" The kid went. Scout's response was to uninterestedly glance over at the increasingly agitated crowd, and to shrug. "What do we do?" Fearful was the kid's expression. The other kids were also starting to get really afraid. They simply didn't know how to react in this situation, and all these angry people were scaring them. Some of the little girls even yelped when a couple men forced their way to the front in a highly aggressive manner.

"We want our money back!" One of the men yelled with the other people in the crowd soon joining him. The kids were beginning to cower behind the flimsy table that was their stand. "Hey! Asshole! I'm talking to you!" The same man shouted towards Scout. The Boston Bruiser's response was to turn around, walk away from the girl he was talking to with a wink, and stand directly in front of this dude with a grin. Behind this angry man was a just as disgruntled crowd of people.

"Listen, buddy. I don't know what you're so mad about! All me and the kids got goin' here is a charity. Either you hug one of the little brats, or not. Choice is all yours. Same goes for the rest of ya! Either hug a kid and pay up, or leave. Simple as that." Shrugged Scout, not showing an inch of fear in front of the crowd.

"Then why's there two lines, huh?" Seethed the man, his fists balling up.

"Oh, that's just cuz I wanna talk to some pretty gals. You know?"

Scout's really done it now. At hearing that he pretty much admitted that this was a scam in front of all their faces, the mob went wild. He soon found himself with dozens of people all up in his face yelling and shouting about getting their money back. The orphans were terrified and they took cover behind the table while Scout attempted to deal with this situation. Which wasn't going well as the mob was backing him up against the very table the orphans were hiding behind, and now they were completely surrounded with no chance of escape.

Other people on the street who had absolutely nothing to do with this gathered around to see what was up now. The commotion at this one stand here was enough to gain the attention of the whole closed street as people from other stands and the people running said stands stared.

"Whoa! Calm down, will ya!? I'm willin' to drop a dollar for everyone else if that'll get ya to calm down!" Which of course it didn't as this only made him look even more scammier and stingier. In a normal situation, Scout would just drop everything and run away. However, this wasn't a normal situation though. Scout was quickly reminded that he's still got those orphans with him, and this only returned to his attention when the kids started screaming.

"Mister Scout! Help!" A boy yelled.

Scout turned around to see that some people have gotten around the table and were trying to snatch their money back from the kids. All eight kids were struggling to protect the donation box from the mob. The only reason why the kids weren't letting them take the money is because they didn't understand why they should. The kids were too young to understand that they were being used by Scout, and they didn't know why they should hand their earnings over to people who gave it to them to begin with. It only got more intense when a woman physically grabbed one of the boys and started shaking him roughly.

"Whoa! Hands off the kid, lady! He's under my protection, ya hear!?" Scout shouted at the woman with legitimate anger in his tone.

The woman glared at Scout and was about to scream something at him until she got a folding chair to the face. It was so surprising that it actually got Scout to flinch back with his eyes wide. One of the other boys decided to stand up and protect his brothers and sisters. Things suddenly got too real when the kid's bravery was rewarded with a slap to the face from the lady.

Something inside Scout was brought up to his mind upon witnessing this. It vaguely reminded him of that one time they had to literally kill Santa Claus (Old Nick who was technically the Australian Santa Claus of Smissmas, but eh) except this was a lot more tame in comparison, but it reminded him of another time. A time years ago, back when he was around the age of these kids here. Even with all the people still yelling and demanding that he give them their money back, Scout couldn't hear them for he was too focused on the kids who were in danger.

For once, screw the girls in a nonsexual way. No way any of them were gonna get with him now...

Back to the boy trying to protect his brothers and sisters, he was an absolute savage as this brave little bastard STILL tried to fight back despite being woefully outmatched by literally everyone else. He didn't need to worry about fighting no more when Scout leaped over the table and basically dropkicked the lady who slapped him into the Shadow Realm. That wasn't all though. There were a couple other people who were getting more physical with the kids than they really should be, and Scout made sure to teach them proper manners by socking the fuck out of them so hard that he knocked them out despite his deceivingly weak appearance. The rest of the crowd only got more wild after that for their anger flared up when Scout showed that he wasn't afraid to fight them, but they quickly shut the fuck up with what Scout did next.

"SCREW ALL OF YOU! TAKE YOUR FREAKIN' MONEY BACK!" He shouted just about when he grabbed the donation box the orphanage was using and threw it out onto the street where it broke into a million pieces. At once did the mob go from angry to excited when they pounced onto the money like sharks attracted to the scent of blood in the water.

Unbeknownst to any of them, Scout had just quietly slipped away with all the kids. He led them a little bit away until he was sure that nobody cared about them anymore. "Geez, people really are animals when it comes to money..." He said to himself while he watched the crowd tear the donation box apart like lions on a dead buffalo.

"B-but what about our money?" Sniffled one the girls.

All the kids were shaken and scared, but they were also afraid of disappointing their friends back at the orphanage that they weren't able to raise any extra money. This little stand of theirs was not sponsored by the orphanage itself as this was something that these innocent kids here organized all by themselves. Seeing all their hard work and money suddenly go down the drain was heartbreaking to them. Despite Scout's reputation as sort of a jerk, he was aware of this as he looked over his shoulder at the saddened kids.

"Heh... what about the money? It ain't nothin' but a bunch of paper anyway..." He chuckled a little. The kids didn't know what was so funny about this, and they tilted their fearful heads in confusion. Scout fully turned around to face them, and now he was smiling again. "I uh... I'm sorry about what happened back there. Just so we're clear, it's not my fault though. It was totally those dumb dopes' fault for not wantin' to pay up..." He chuckled again, but this time he ended it with a sigh. His hand reached into his pocket and out came four stacks of one hundred lien, and gave it to the starry eyed kids. God knows he didn't need this world's money for much anyway. "Go ahead. Take it. Go buy yourselves somethin' nice."

The kids were so unsure about this, that one of the boys spoke up. "But... you just said money-"

"I know what I said! Just... just take the money. I sure as Hell don't need it."

Smiles soon replaced the fear on these kids' faces. Never had they had so much money in their possession at one time! And it was all because of this random stranger who was using them to get ladies! They soon scrammed off with the eager intent to share the money with their friends back at the orphanage, but Scout stopped them before they left. Specifically, they all stopped when Scout called only one of them back. The kid who slammed a chair into that aggressive lady's face earlier.

"What's your name, kid?" Scout asked.

"Me?" Said kid asked, pointing at himself. "My friends call me Monkey."

"Monkey? The Hell kinda name is that?"

"It's just my nickname... my real name is Bobby." Said the kid.

"Bobby..." Echoed Scout, nodding his head up and down slowly. The kids had no idea where he was going with this, and Scout may haven't had a single idea himself. Never before in his life had he done something like this. This kid reminded Scout much of himself even though he wasn't nearly as aggressive as Scout was when he was his age. He had brown hair and light blue eyes just like Scout did, and just as brave too. "Yo... you're pretty cool, Bobby. All you kids are. Any of you ever played baseball before?" He asked, to which the kids answered no since baseball wasn't a sport in this world. Even though this should have been expected, it still made Scout's eyes go wide in horror. How could this world not have baseball!? It's like the greatest sport ever invented in the whole friggin' universe!

"Man, you kids don't know what you're missin' out on! Tell you what, Imma teach you kids how to play ball for absolutely free! No cost at all! Let's go find a park or somethin' and I'll lay down the basics for ya."

The kids had no idea what baseball was, but judging on how nice Scout was being now, how bad could it be? They agreed with his conditions and their naive little minds were actually pretty eager to find out how to play this sport they never heard of before. Although he didn't realize it at first because he was more focused on getting ladies than paying attention to the kids, he found that these kids actually weren't that much different from him when he was a kid. Granted that Scout's childhood was a million times more violent and rough than all of theirs combined was, but still.

It actually made him feel a little good inside that he's helped them out. Something that he wasn't used to.

"Oh... oh Lord..." A familiar Scottish voice slurred, causing Scout and the kids to turn to his right to see Demoman lay knocked out against a wall. He was surprised to say the least since he didn't even notice Demoman was there until just now, and he was left wondering why Demo was here.

"Demo? What are you doin' here?" Asked Scout. Demoman's only answer was to point upwards where there was a big sign. Now Scout can't read all that well, but he can tell enough by the pictures alone that this was some kind of a pub. It didn't take long to piece the story together after that... "Ah... classic Demo... come on, kids. We're takin' him with us."


Mercs' Hideout

Engineer had been working on his Teleported nonstop ever since the mercenaries came back to their base last night, and he had moved his makeshift workshop of sorts into the loading bay/garage type of area of the factory. Absolutely no progress has been achieved in trying to make a portal back home. He'll admit that the field of dimensional teleportation wasn't exactly something that was covered in his many PhDs, but he was sure that he could do it. Eventually...

He's only spent something like a grand total of seven hours on it and he knew that these things needed a huge investment in time and material. That's how a lot of things back on Earth were invented, and hopefully Engie can aim for the same thing and become one of the greats. Australian geniuses don't count.

The other mercenaries in the base were doing whatever they were doing. Sniper was still on top of the roof because, again, of course the master camper fucking would. Soldier and Pyro were back in a part of the factory that Soldier designated as "Freedom HQ" where he had Pyro help him with his ultimate project. A big ass American flag made out of whatever cloth and rags they can find. Unlike Engineer where pregoress was completely nonexistent, their flag was coming along real nicely. It was still ugly and poorly made, but at least they were getting something done.

So far the factory was clear of any hostiles as nobody had found their place except for random animals like birds and shit, and they cleared out the secret lower levels after unintentionally running in to the Grimm down there in their first encounter with the big bad monsters that are such a big threat in this world. Didn't seem like it down in that weird hidden lab, but okay.

Back to Engineer, the Texan decided to grab a snack before continuing on with his work. A simple walk out to the main hub room of the base was all it took to get to the refrigerator. He grabbed himself a plate of leftover bacon he made this morning and walked right back over to where he was before. His workshop was past Soldier's HQ and so he was able to get a quick look at how the flag was coming along. Here he saw that Pyro was doing most of the work since it liked to knit a lot and Soldier was sorting out the colors of old rags, blankets, and clothes that he found lying about the factory. All of that was probably left behind by homeless folk. Engie didn't really mind at all that Soldier was making a flag since he was well aware Soldier can't live without an American flag hanging somewhere around him. Apparently, that flag painted on the factory wall wasn't good enough for him.

Once Engineer made it to his workshop, he dropped his plate of bacon in sheer shock.

"WHAT IN SAM HILL!?" Shouted the Texan man.

Somehow, a man had snuck into their secret hideout completely undetected. Engineer sure as Hell didn't notice him before, and neither did any of the other mercs here. Even Sniper who was supposed to keep watch on top of the factory didn't call anything in about this man approaching the factory, and that is not something that just anyone can do for that man was like an owl. Immediately, Engineer pulled out his Shotgun and leveled it at the stranger. The stranger himself was standing before the workbench Engie was at, seemingly in the middle of examining the Teleporter right as Engineer came back.

"Don't move a damn muscle, mister." Said Engie seriously, slowly approaching the man.

The man turned around fully and Engineer was able to get a good look at him. He was a tall and thin man with pale skin, and he looked to be about middle-aged. His hair was black and styled into a crew cut, and he had pale green eyes. Also, he was dressed in a gray-blue business suit with a purplish tie and had a briefcase with him. His looks gave him the overall appearance of some kind of businessman. Despite this usually nonthreatening look, Engineer felt oddly uneasy at seeing this stranger.

Speaking of the stranger, he calmly turned around once Engineer had entered the room. He looked completely unfazed at all with the weapon being pointed at him. His green eyes looked over Engineer's entire person over before straightening out his tie.

"Hello, Mister Conagher." Said the man in a rather monotone voice, a slight smile given as greeting. Though his goggles hid his eyes, Engineer's eyes widened up immediately after the man revealed he knew who he was some how.

"Who are you?" The Texan man demanded with his weapons still at the ready.

"Who I am does not concern you, Mister Conagher." He said in his unusual monotone voice. "However, I believe what does matter is the bacon you have dropped. Fortunately, I am so kind as to help you with that." If Engie's eyes were already wide then they might as well be bigger than his goggles now. Somehow, the mysterious man held up the same plate of bacon that Engie dropped! The Texan looked back to the spot where it should have been only to see that it wasn't there at all. "Please lower the weapon Mister Conagher. I am not here to harm you."

Engineer didn't know what to think. He had a feeling right away that there was something off with this strange character, and he was absolutely fucking right when this man magically saved his bacon. Said man laid the bacon by the Teleporter Engineer was working on that was supposed to get them back home where the man also took a moment to examine it further.

"I understand that you are busy at the moment, so I will try to be quick so that you may return to work on your portal back to your world. In short, I am here to offer you and all of Team Fortress a job."

"A job?" Engie asked, lowering his weapon just a little.

"Yes. A job fitting of you mercenaries..." Said the man. "I am aware that you do not trust me nor do you know me. But you have my word that I am one who is more than capable of offering you a worthwhile job."

It was around this point that Engineer noticed that he spoke really strangely. He didn't speak in any sort of recognizable accent, but he had this weird tendency to stress odd parts of words as well as awkwardly changing the pitch of his voice. Regardless, he still came off as ominous enough to make Engie feel uneasy.

"I will offer the job once the team has gathered here in this so called secret base of yours. I do apologize for not coming at a more ideal time for both me and you mercenaries. If I had known that you had come to this world beforehand then this would not have been an issue. Care to call them back here, Mister Conagher? I would bring them myself, but I don't wish for it to be too much of an inconvenience."

"Uh... sure thing, mister..." Engie was still horribly unsure about this man, but he felt like he had to do what he asked anyway. He was gonna have to tell his team about this sooner or later. "Boys, everyone back to base. We got a visitor." Said Engie into the team radio. "Alright, I done what you asked." The stranger had a vibe of creepiness around him. Even when he gave a smile did it make Engie feel a little uncomfortable, and that's not easy to do considering the things he and the mercenaries have been through. The stranger's smile lasted for only a second before it suddenly disappeared and was switched into a blank face as if he just realized something. "What's wrong?"

"...It appears that one of you is in trouble."


Vale

Spy was still driving his Thunderbird around the city. Vale actually was quite a large city even if it didn't feel like it due to the lack of tall skyscraper like buildings. The size of Vale was about half as big as Tokyo on Earth was, and Spy should know since he's worked around that area before. The stories of him and later his mercenary pals getting lost in the damned city are something else, but thankfully Vale wasn't quite as confusing to navigate as Tokyo was. Traffic was kinda bad since several streets were closed off for festival activities, but there wasn't really a lot of negative things about this city from what he could see. It was clean, well protected, and people were happy. Unless you count the White Fang problem and the Grimm who camp outside the kingdom's defenses all the time, this is apparently one of the more nicer places in the world to live in if Spy's little pamphlet thing was to be believed. The same could be said for the other four kingdoms too since anywhere that wasn't these places was prone to constant bandit and Grimm attack.

He stopped by a cafe to grab some coffee before continuing on. The coffee was alright. It wasn't that much different from your usual variety of coffee found on a cafe back on Earth. Spy preferred something more exquisite, but this will do. It was better quality than the coffee Mann Co. provided them at least. The Frenchman was about to get back in his car when something happened.

Out of fucking nowhere, a battle was happening over on the next block.