Hello! I'm sorry this chapter's so short, I wanted to finish it before I went on vacation. Well, that and its more or less just a set-up chapter.
In the hours before dawn, Gray Mann's personal Mecha Engineer entered its master's quarters.
Gray heard the chink of metal on metal and slowly opened his eyes. Before the robot could speak, Gray held up a hand. With a crack of his back, he sat up, "What is it?"
The robot clicked quietly, "The Anti-Pyro was destroyed."
Gray moaned, "How?"
"The final feed we received was of a blow to the central gearbox from the underside."
Gray rubbed the sleep from his eyes and pulled a pad of paper from his nightstand. In black ink, he wrote, note; add extra armor to gearbox
Gray tucked the notebook in his shirt pocket, "I should have mounted the weaponry before sending it out."
The engineer beeped, "Yes."
Gray stood from bed. His joints cracked and popped at the strain, "What of the others?"
The robot watched as its master activated the building's main power systems. Lights flickered to life and the building resonated with an electric hum. "From what we know of the others, they're approaching Teufort. Our trackers indicate they've recently left the city of New Orleans."
"How many of them are there?"
The bot clicked, "Five confirmed,
Three more speculated."
Gray raised an eyebrow, "Speculated?"
"Yes. There is reason to believe the Engineer, Spy and Medic are with the others."
Gray nodded, "I see."
The bot shifted so it was in its master's field of view, "Should an attack be launched?"
Gray folded his hands together, "No. They'll come to us," he tightened his grip on the notebook full of the plans for his new bots, "I still need time to perfect the Anti series. Besides, it's always better to play on the home field."
Sniper woke up in the back of a van. His first thought was that he'd been kidnapped. He'd blacked out, got his memory back and was being held hostage.
"Hallo Sniper."
Startled, Sniper shot upright and was met with a sickening crack as his head collided with Medic's. Both men recoiled sharply.
"Ah, doc! What the hell're you doin?"
Medic rubbed the slowly forming bruise on his brow, "Vell, ve're going to zhe old Hydro base."
Sniper closed his eyes to stop the world from spinning, "The abandoned one?"
"Ja, ve don't think Gray knows about it."
Heavy opened one eye, "Da, base is very old, is no longer in database. We will be safe there."
Sniper sat up slowly and leaned against the van's metal wall. He hadn't yet decided what blurred his thoughts worse, the blackout, his memory regain, or the blow he took to the head. "Oi hope so mate."
On the road ahead, the wall of a massive dam rose up from the hard, cracked dirt. Just beneath it, a large base stretched across an expanse of dry riverbed. Radio towers and satellite dishes pock-marked the barren earth. Churning up a cloud of dust, the van pulled up to the rusted chain link fence guarding the base. Several signs were posted on the fence warning that the base was closed and trespassing was not permitted.
The van slowed to an idle and Engineer exited the passenger's side. He approached the comically large paddock chained to the main gate. With a swift tug, the old chain broke loose and crumbled to the ground. Engineer reentered the van. Slowly, it pulled into the garage in the main segment of the base.
"Well," Miss. Pauling said, "here we are; Hydro. Do any of you remember this base?"
Soldier jumped from the back of the van, "I remember these battles taking forever."
Engineer nodded bitterly, remembering the neck and neck Hydro battles, "Hey Sniper, why doncha come with me? Ah'm gonna go turn on the generators an empty the reservoir."
Wordlessly, Sniper followed the Texan into the base's dark underground. He wasn't interested in standing around awkwardly with the rest of the team. Actually, he didn't want to be around anyone. He just wanted to climb to the top of the radio tower and play the saxophone.
With an omph, Sniper ran into Engineer's outstretched hand.
The Texan put a finger to his lips and pointed ahead.
In the dark of the hall, a woman's figure stood with her back turned. She wore a red dress that sparkled and moved like fire. At the ends and in patches, the dress was singed black. The woman herself had long, flowing black hair. From what little Sniper could see, her skin was a deep tan and seemed to emit a faint orange glow.
"Howdy," Engineer called.
The sound echoed off the stone walls. Cautiously, the woman craned her neck back to the two men. Her amber eyes blinked several times, but she made no further attempt to move.
Engineer moved closer to the woman and held his arms out in an embrace, "Hi Pyro."
The woman gave a lopsided smile. Her body whipped around and charged Engineer. At the last second, she slowed and picked up the beaming man in a crushing hug.
"Whoa there smoky, no need to crush me."
Pyro pulled back and clapped her hands together, "Sorry! You're here. I'm home. We're home."
Sniper noted her voice was coarse and raspy. Up close, he noticed her frame was wider and taller making her appear more masculine. He'd thought Pyro was a man for nine years.
"Come with me Pyro, we'll turn the lights back on an getcha a suit."
Pyro nodded vigorously and followed Engineer like an excited puppy. Sniper fell in behind them. Even in the dark, he could see the base was in a bad state. Chips and cracks coated the concrete walls. Browned water spots stained the gray of the hall. In all, the base had a musty smell about it that made Sniper wrinkle his nose.
"Here we are," Engineer said as he scraped open a crumbling steel door.
Inside, a massive set of computers stretched across the walls. Engineer walked to the main console and held down a thumb sized blue button. From above, Sniper heard a rush of water. The control room began to thrum as a set of turbines creaked to life. Overhead, the room's fluorescent lights illuminated the active control board. On the main screen, a diagram monitoring power lit up in a variety of greens and blues.
"Heh, looks like this ol' base is holdin up pretty well."
Sniper nodded absentmindedly. Seeing the base in light, he couldn't help but remember the intense territorial control matches that had been held there.
Engineer moved to a metal locker, "Oh and Ah almost forgot," from inside, he pulled a blue Pyro's suit and mask, "Here ya are."
Pyro accepted the suit and turned it over several times.
"Sorry 'bout the blue, were in the old BLU part a the area."
Pyro seemed not to care, and moved into the corner to change.
Engineer turned his attention to Sniper, "So, how're ya doin? Ya blacked out for a mighty long time after Nawlans."
Sniper pulled a face, "Ya mean New Orleans? Yeah, Oi'm fine. Just disoriented, wakin up in the back of a van an all..."
Engineer rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, Ah suppose that wasn't the best move on our part. Ah well, at least we're here now. An, uh, Ah don't think we have to worry too much about Gray Mann. Pauling and Ah think he doesn't know this base exists. So long as we don't turn on the respawn, we should be safe."
"Mnh..."
Engineer chuckled softly, "Heh, we'll talk about plans tomorrow. Fer now, why don't ya go find the room marked Sniper? Ah'll take care of Pyro."
Sniper smiled half way and wandered from the control room. If the BLU base was anything like the RED base, Sniper guessed the bedrooms would be up a stairwell just beyond the hallway up ahead. Then again, he could be wrong. Hydro was the only base he'd found where the two sides weren't identical. Most of the time, but even their layouts matched. Thankfully though, the rooms were where he thought they'd be and the Sniper room was the second one he found.
Inside was simply furnished. A small desk was shoved up against one wall and a cot across from it. A wardrobe sat in one corner and a small weapon maintenance station was situated near the door. On the far wall, two large windows opened onto a balcony.
Sniper instantly walked to one window, cracked it open and stood out on the balcony. Below, water rushed from beneath the dam, flooding the once dry riverbed. Suddenly, the oddly high off the ground design of the base made sense.
With the sun setting above the canyon, Sniper stood on the balcony and relaxed. He knew he'd only have this moment of peace. Even though he didn't fully understand what was going on, he knew that if Engineer was cooking up a plan, he was in for an exciting week. Chuckling at the thought, Sniper walked back inside just as darkness washed over Hydro.
Up next, plans! Then, war or, eh, battle!