And then suddenly, he was back.
But he was back on the scorched rocks of the cliff, with the face off his dopplegänger hovering over him, not within the wooden walls of their respawn.
"Whoa...what the freaking hell just happened?"
"I dunno…" Frederick shrugged and offered the other Scout a hand. "Come on. You weren't out long, so we might still be able ta catch that fella."
Nathaniel nodded and took the hand, pulling himself up to his feet. Grabbing his bag from where he'd left it on the ground, he broke into a run across the rocky divide.
"Hey! Hold on a sec!" the BLU Scout paused and looked back to his double, who was pointing at something in the battle below.
At least, at what used to be a battle.
The two teams had stopped their fighting for some reason and were crowded around in a small cluster. In the middle of the group, two forms were visible, one bright red and the other a slightly darker blue. The red one lay on the ground, not moving while the blue one was hovering over the fallen form, as if unsure of what to do.
"That's odd. What'dya think going on down there?" the red coloured Scout asked.
"Dunno...but we ain't got time for that. Come on!" Nate called, continuing his run along the plateau.
Jumping down from the cliff with a sickening (and rather painful) crunch, the duo ran around to the red coloured building where they had last seen the figure.
"Hey! Where'd he go?" The BLU Scout asked as the slowed to a halt at the fence. "Are we gonna have'ta climb this thing?
"I think so. Hey! There he is! Come on!" Grabbing the other Scout, he pointed towards to a rather large pile of gravel located just behind the base as the figure disappeared over its peak.
"Alright, let's do this." Nate said, cracking his knuckles and grabbing ahold of the wire.
The fence was considerably easier to surmount than the rock face and both scouts managed to scale it quickly.
"Alright." Fredrick said as he dropped down behind the blue one. "I'm gonna go 'round an' see where that guy went. You stay 'ere." before nate could object to this, he ran off in the direction of the gravel pile they had last seen the man at. He came running back a couple of minutes later.
"Alright." he panted. "He's just sittin' there on that pile, with a radio thingy. He's got some sort of weird armour, but he ain't armed, so I bet we can take 'im out real easy."
"So, ya got a plan."
"'Course I do. I'm gonna over the top and distract him while you go round an' shoot 'im from the back. Got that?"
"Yeah!" Nate grinned and pulled his force-a-nature out of his bag. "Well, what are we waiting for?"
The two set off towards the gravel hill, with nate running around the left and Frederick trying his best to scale the hill as stealthily as he could.
As his companion was climbing the slope, Nate peaked around the corner to see just what they were facing. On the side of the pile, about half way up, sat a man wearing a set of orange body armour. The man himself had pale skin that looked like it hadn't seen enough sunlight and silver hair that came only with age. In front of him was a radio, which was currently absorbing all his attention. His armour was a bright shade of orange that he couldn't imagine was very stealthy, with a black emblem on his arm that consisted of what looked a bit like a u, but with more lines.
From the top of the gravel heap, Nate saw Rick pop up and give him a thumbs up. Giving the scout a thumbs up in return, he turned back to their mark.
And paused.
Only now, he noticed that lying in the loose gravel beside the armoured man, was a combat shotgun, painted in the same orange as his suit.
"Yo chucklenuts! Ya ain't gonna get a signal on that piece a crap! Trust me pal, I've tried."
The man froze and turned his head to face the scout above him.
"Shouldn't you be with your team kid?" he said, almost mockingly.
His insulter paused, obviously confused by this turn of events. He's expected the man to instantly attack, not to talk back at him.
"Ok, who the freaking hell are ya? An' I ain't a kid by the way."
"Really? I thought all the scouts were children. They're harder to hit that way."
"Wait, what?"
"You two really do act the same you know? Rash decisions, a fast talking mouth, the inability to fully examine the situation…"
"Dude, who the fuck are you? And what hell are ya talking about?"
Nate shrugged. That was a good enough distraction as any. Getting down onto all fours, he began to stealthily climb the hill.
"...and you always seem come in pairs."
What?
The man suddenly swung around and grabbed his shotgun where it lay on the ground and pointed it at the BLU Scout.
"Well, I was expecting a Spy, but that's as good a target as any." He smirked. "Put that gun down blue. And don't even think of touching that headset."
"Whoa." The Scout swallowed nervously as he found himself looking down the gun's barrel.
"Hmph. Amateurs."
"Oh really?" the cornered Scout let out a sly grin, his fear not entirely abated. "Says the person who made the fatal mistake."
"And what's that?" The man asked, lowering his gun slightly.
"Never turn ya back on a Scout pal."
The man looked up just in time to see the red form of the other Scout slam into him, his foot making contact with the orange metal plate on his back.
The momentum of the attack sent the man sprawling, giving Nate just enough time to duck out of the shotgun's sights.
Using the man's back as a starting point, the attacker pushed up off him into the air, twisting himself in mid air to fire off a shot at the man from his scattergun. While the shot wouldn't be enough to take down anyone, it would be enough to distract the man as Nate clambered up the hill, his own gun at the ready to shoot the man in the head.
At least, that was the plan.
The man suddenly rolled over, twisting himself out of the Scout's line of fire as he readied his own shotgun and pointed it at Nate.
There was a sudden bang and then the Scout felt his left leg light up in pain as it gave out on him, extracting a scream of pain from him as he crashed into the ground.
"Well then," The armoured man said, getting up and reloading the gun. "Are you going to put your gun away or am I going to have to shoot you too?" He asked, pointing the weapon at Frederick.
"Ya know death ain't really a threat when ya got respawn, so ya can shot all ya freaking want, ya ain't gonna stop me."
"Are you absolutely sure that you have respawn to fall back on though?"
The Scout paused, glancing from the man to his injured companion and back again.
"Goddamn it…" He finally muttered, lowering his scattergun.
The man let out a satisfied hmph and picked up his radio.
"Good boy. Perhaps you aren't as dumb as you look."
"Oh, ya wanna say that to my face p-"
"For Christ's sake Rick, will ya quit it? Ya ain't gonna win." Nate interrupted, taking both the stranger and the other Scout by surprise.
"Well–"
"And you, who the fucking hell do ya think ya are?" The injured scout glared up at the man. "'Cause lemme tell ya pal, this ain't the last ya seen of us."
"Who am I?" He gave a short, warm laugh as if he was sharing a joke. "I'm more of a what if you ask me. Just like you."
"Fine, what the fucking hell are ya?"
"I am the Commander."
"Fine, Commander. Lemme tell ya something. This ain't gonna be the last time ya see me. And pal, lemme tell ya somethin' – ya stupid armour ain't gonna help ya then." He looked at his wound and winced. "Christ, can ya get Doc Rick? I reckon I'm dying here. I didn't even know I had that much freaking blood…" His sentence trailed off as his head slumped back onto the ground, his face suddenly very pale.
The RED Scout nodded and ran off in search of help, leaving the commander alone with Nate.
And then, the world slowly faded away from Nathaniel.
"...look Doc, ah don't care how, I want, no need ya ta hurry up 'ere."
"Dell, this is not something that can be rushed. Contrary to vhat you might think, I can not heal everything with a medigun."
"Well then, why doncha try an' remedy that fact, instead of whining about it like a–"
"Vhat do you think I haff being doing for the last five years?!"
"Ah don't know, but it ain't enough if ya can't heal a man in a day, ya ain't trying hard enough."
There was an odd silence, in which the freshly conscious Scout finally opened his eyes. He was back in the infirmary, lying in one of the beds, but for some reason, he couldn't remember why.
On one side of his bed, he could see the Engineer, his arms crossed as he glared across the bed with un-goggled eyes. Across from him was the Medic, his tall form contrasting sharply with the Texan's stout one.
While the Engineer didn't look worse for wear, the same could not be said about Medic. His face was even paler than usual and his demeanour of haughtiness was gone, replaced by one of stress and fear. He had swapped his lab coat for a white rubber apron, which was covered in what looked like day old blood, along with his rolled up shirt cuffs.
Muttering something in German at the engineer, he turned to Scout and let out what sounded like a sigh of relief.
"Scout! You're back! Finally…" He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, which Scout now noticed were black with lack of sleep. "Dell you vill haff to leave now…"
"Nope." He responded, looking down at the Scout with a look of disapproval. "Ah need ta talk to Scout 'ere."
"That is not possible."
"It is if ah say it is. Lemme remind ya who's in charge of this team. Now Scout, ah need ta to tell me what 'appened out there."
Scout looked up at the Engineer and swallowed.
"I...I can't remember. I mean…" he froze as the event slowly came back to him. "There was this guy. Called 'imself the Commander. An'...an'..." the Scout trailed off.
"And what?"
"An' he shot me." Scout's voice lowered to an almost inaudible whisper as he spoke. "He shot me and he...he almost killed me. That's...that's the closest I've been ta death in…" His voice finally stopped.
"Scout? What in tarnation are ya doing?" the Engineer angrily snapped at him. "Ah don't know what ya think ya doing, but it aint working."
"Dell." The Medic said, his voice suddenly frighteningly cold and harsh. "Out."
"Doc, ya can't do this. Ya know he's fakin' right?"
"Get out of my office Dell. Now."
The Engineer said something in retort, but whatever it was, it was lost on the Scout. The entire world seemed to fade away. His mind seemed to be working faster than he could keep up with, thoughts appearing into existence too fast for him to even realise they were his. He'd been dying. That man had nearly killed him and for what? He'd shouldn't of let that happen – he was better than that! He couldn't of let that happen…
"Scout?" Medic asked, his attention now on the runner having successfully gotten rid of the engineer.
"My god…" He whispered, his breathing suddenly fast and erratic.
"Scout, listen," The Medic swallowed nervously. It had been an odd thirty years since he'd had to this and he was desperately hoping he hadn't forgotten anything.
"I failed."
"Scout, you–"
"I...I failed...my god…" His arms suddenly jerked up and medic quickly grabbed them before he could do any damage. "I...I'm not meant to fail. I can't fail. I'm the best there is and that means I can't fail, not even for one second. I failed an' the admin's gonna fire me 'cause Sol's right – I'm not good enough to be on this team an' then and then you guys are gonna fail an' then that guy's gonna get me an' then an' then he's gonna kill me an' then he'll get you guys an' then an' then an' then an' then…" He repeated those last two words like a broken record, his mind unable to focus on anything else.
"Scout, listen." He took off his glasses and looked the Scout in the eyes. "You're safe."
Slowly, the Scout's voice slowed and then stopped. His body was cold for some reason and he realised he was uncontrollably shivering.
"He von't get you here – vi haff Heavy and the Sniper and Pyro and the Engineer and the rest of the team."
"But…" the scout said, panic once again rising in him.
"It's fine. I promise."
The Scout paused for a second and slowly nodded, as if still unsure of the statements truth. Bringing the cover of the bed closer to him, he curled himself into a ball against the head of the bed and sat there, still breathing hard and sweating profusely.
"I'm fine...I'm fine…" The Scout's breathing slowed, but only by a tiny bit. "I...I can't be here anymore." He drew the covers closer, so that it nearly covered his face. As he did so, it revealed his left leg, which was bare except for a long, straight line of stitches down it from where the Medic had removed the shot from his leg.
Upon seeing the line, his breathing caught in his throat as he stared at it, his eyes once again unable to focus on anything else.
And then suddenly, he was back to when it happened. Frozen in place, unable to do anything as the man once again threatened one of his only friends. Unable to do anything but tell him to back down and give up.
Unable to do anything as he lay there blood everywhere and his mind fading back into darkness.
changelog 3-7-16
+added chapter
/ man, I really need to update the summary - this story is a far cry from the comedy I once intended it to be
/ also, remember, half-life happened in the 2000s - this story is set in 1974 - does that answer your question?