Chapter 12: King of the hill

Rank 1: ?

"You've come far Herr Touchdown." The Medic complimented as he fixed up Travis' wounds from his last fight. "Surely that's enough to make you happy?"

"No… not right now it isn't." he sighed, chugging down his drink. "Sylvia's still with him…"

"How do you know ze photos are genuine?" The Medic asked. Travis thought a moment. Could the Spy have just faked them? It was possible… Travis had found out he was the kind of person to use cheap tricks on his opponents.

"I…don't I guess."

"Zen you have no need to worry!"

"But Syl's not talked to me in ages… not even to tell me my rank matches."

"I'm sure she's just busy." The Germanic doctor assured.

"I hope so…" Travis grumbled. The air around him felt dense. As if trying to compress him, trap him, ensnare him. Travis didn't like it. Then the phone rang and he forgot about it. The Medic answered for him.

"Ja?" he said initially. He then passed the phone to Travis.

"Travis?" came that silky French voice.

"Sylvia?" he replied in confusion.

"The last match is set up." She said, cutting straight to business.

"Oh yeah? Well before you tell me, I want you to answer me something." Sylvia went silent at the other end.

"What?"

"Did you have sex with that French bastard?" No reply. "Well?"

"What's made you ask this?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe the goddamn pictures he took of it!" He heard Sylvia mumble something along the lines of

"He never told me that…."

"So it's true? You're with him now?" he demanded through the phone. Sylvia was silent for a minute.

"…head to Mann Manor atop the hill. Kill the first ranked assassin and I will tell you all." And she promptly hung up.

"Sylvia!" Travis bellowed, hurling the phone across the room. The Medic patted his shoulder.

"You heard her. We should head to Mann Manor." This broke Travis' line of though as he looked at his friend.

"We? Why we?"

"Because… I have a feeling you're going to need me to get up that hill." He scratched his nose as if irritated.

"What do you mean?" Travis asked.

"I overheard Mr Hale the other day in his office. He mentioned something about having a surprise waiting for you."

"Mr Hale? You mean the guy who runs Mann. Co?"

"Yes. I get the feeling he doesn't want you to reach the top."

"Well I don't give a shit what he wants." Travis got up and drew Team Killer.

"Let's go Doc…" and with that, he headed out toward the hill, the white coated doctor following suit.

The hill was on the east of town, and it was more of a mountain than it was a hill. Travis squinted to see the summit, spotting what looked like a large building. The Medic had his medigun switched on, healing Travis. He couldn't help but wonder why his final opponent had chosen such a high battleground though. Maybe he could fly or something. Travis continued to wonder as he began his ascent of the hill. It was rather steep, so sometimes he had to crawl over large jutting rocky outcrops to continue up, the Medic always just a few steps behind. Then, as he was about halfway up, he heard a beeping sound from his left. He turned and looked. It was a sentry, identical to the ones that hardhat guy had used.

"Zat's a sentry… but vat's it doing here?"

"Seems like someone's out for revenge…" Travis mumbled, suspecting that the sentry's builder wasn't far away. In any case, he had to take it out. While he trusted the medigun's healing powers, he doubted it'd be able to heal him from rockets. He'd have to be sneaky to take this one out. Travis sheathed Team killer and moved to under the outcrop the sentry was on. He snuck around beneath it, behind another large collection of rocks, peering over them. The sentry had yet to notice them. Travis picked up a rock near his foot and tossed it in front of the sentry. The sentry beeped and shot at it, giving Travis time to jump up and slash it in half. The Sentry fell apart and Travis stood triumphant. He looked back up to the top of the hill. He motioned for the Medic to join him and continued up towards the summit. Suddenly from above, he spotted a rocket shooting down towards him. Thinking fast, Travis jumped to one side of it, his white coated friend following suit. Two more rockets show down at him, forcing Travis to leap sideways once again. He couldn't see who was shooting at him, but he had a good idea.

Eventually, after more rocket dodging, they reached the top of the massive mound of earth. Up ahead, he could see Mann Manor, directly in front of the setting sun. It looked rather grand and even somewhat mysterious. There was a wooden wall circling it, broken only by a gap. Travis approached said gap when he suddenly heard a battle cry from the gate. And it was that eight men, all of whom Travis knew, all of whom he had killed, all of whom were wearing red, stepped out of hiding and into plain view at the assassin before them. They were led by the Heavy Weapons guy, holding his massive chain gun ready. The Soldier was on his left, rocket launcher trained on Travis. The Scout was on his immediate left, ready with his metal bat and the Engineer has a shotgun aimed at him. The Demoman was swigging from a brown glass bottle on the right of the Heavy, and the Pyro was clutching his flamethrower, keeping his eyes on Travis. And Travis even spotted a familiar red dot on his forehead, spotting the Sniper nearby. Travis' brow furrowed

"So…none of you can let it go huh? You all want another shot?"

"It's not that dumbass." Interrupted the Scout. "This time we're being paid to take you down!"

"Oh?" Travis raised an eyebrow.

"The rank one assassin decided we should kill you for him!" laughed the Heavy.

"And he offered us a nice sum in return." Chuckled the Engineer.

"And here I thought you guys had some class…" mocked Travis.

"Shut up and die maggot!" shouted the Soldier, as he let loose a rocket against Travis. Travis looked back at the Medic, and his medigun fully charged. He gave a single nod before the rocket his, creating a massive cloud of smoke.

When the smoke cleared, Travis emerged from the cloud, glowing red, beam katana out, charging at the red team shouting.

"Fuckers!" The red team gave another battle cry and charged at him. The Scout was first to meet Travis head on, swinging his metal bat at his face. Travis was too quick and blocked him immediately, then proceeding to slice the Scout's stomach open. The Pyro was next, torching Travis. The Ubercharge kept him well healed as he quick dispatched the Pyro, sending his gas mask covered head flying. He felt multiple bullets ramming into him, despite how impervious he was to them, as he charged at the Soldier and sliced him in two. He spotted the Engineer off to his left, unloading round after round into him. Travis grinned and quickly stabbed him, before moving onto the Heavy, bisecting him down the middle in seconds. As Travis charged at the Demoman, he noticed his body was flickering between its natural state and the Ubercharge state. He didn't have long left. While the Demoman attempted to blow him up with sticky mines, Travis chased him down and slashed at him, only to have him block. That was when the Ubercharge faded. Travis swore loudly as he cut off the Demoman's head, then leaped behind some cover to avoid the Snipers shot. He'd been hoping the Ubercharge would last longer than that. But no matter now. He'd have to surprise the Sniper. He peeked out for a moment to check out his position. He was at the top of an old water tower. The only way up was the ladder. That was out of the question, the Sniper could easily shoot him while he was climbing. Travis looked at the legs of the tower. They were wooden, old and most likely rotten. An idea creeped into Travis' head, causing him to grin like a madman.

The Sniper didn't realise the tower was falling when he heard a strange slashing sound beneath him. He also didn't realise the tower was falling when he heard a loud creaking sound beneath him. But he did realise the tower was falling when it actually started falling. He cried out and jumped off the debris, giving Travis the opportunity he needed, slashing the Australian man as he fell, cleaving him in two.

"Looks like we win Doctor…" said Travis to his companion.

"Um ja! Of course ve did!" said his white coated friend, standing behind him… not holding his medigun. Travis stared at him for a moment… then slashed his head clean off. The disguise faded and he saw it was in fact, the Spy.

"Fooled me once… but not again fuckface." Travis kicked the body with a sense of triumph, then spotting the body of the real Doctor, suffering from a stab in the back. Travis knelt next to him as his friend looked up.

"Herr Touchdown…you go…kill the ranked one assassin…I vill be fine…" he gave a half hearted smile.

"What about your Medigun?" Travis suggested, looking around for it.

"Nein… I'm too close to death…nein worries though, I vill respawn and see you later…" he promised. Travis nodded.

"Later doc…" he got back to his feet and continued onwards towards the manor. As Travis looked it over, he spotted a large amount of pumpkins, glowing in the looming darkness of the night. He wondered briefly why they were there, before passing under a large stone archway. Then he entered the manor itself, noting that the building was ancient, rotting wood and stained walls being the main signs of this. He reached a large square room, small entrances dotted around the walls, and even a stairwell above him led higher up. And right in the middle, surrounded by an almost completely broken wooden floor, was a large metal disc with a red glowing light in its centre. Travis stared at it wondering what it could possibly be. That, was when it emerged from the metal disc.

It started with the smoke emerging from the centre, swarming up like a storm. A figure rose up out of the smoke, standing on the point. Travis' gulped as he looked over the looming figure. His clothes were rather tattered, leaving his legs and arms bare, covering his chest. He wore thick heavy leather boots and large leather gloves. His arms were not covered by skin, all that was there was bones, connected together. His head was a large pumpkin, starting to rot, cut to give him a horrible glowing grin and eyes. And in his hands, sat a large metal axe, stained with blood from no doubt years of use. The skeletal figure rose up, standing tall, and let out a round of wicked laughter. Travis' eyes widened.

"You've got to be shitting me…"