Hello! And thank you for continuing to visit my story ;) All of your reviews are colossally appreciated!
To Whipsmart: Demoman has become my favorite, too. Originally I had no idea how to start the story, so I began with the character that I liked and knew the least, which was Demo. He quickly became one of the most entertaining to write about.
To ArmoredSoul: Vengeful! Muahaha. I enjoy playing a lot of Engineer, and when you get on those good streaks he says some pretty interesting stuff ("I'm gonna beat you like a rented mule, boy!") but it's not so much what he says, it's how he says it. And thinking of Pyro in a sparkly black dress makes me grin like an idiot, too ;x Oooh the fun I will have in the next coming chapters.
To Shiritorin: *Fuzzy butterfly tickley happy feeling* Hahaha, thank you! To be totally honest, I felt exactly the same. TF2 and romance was to me like trying to mix cake and Tabasco....Why do I feel like that's something Engineer would eat?
To Deathbybunnies: It would be incredibly funny if someone did die by a bunny. I would probably laugh very hard. I mean, I would laugh very hard. Sniper will certainly get more play time, but I dare not elaborate lest I spoil something good!
QUESTION: As I've been writing this I have produced a document consisting of the scrap/cut pieces of the story that I didn't feel fit or went in a different direction than I'd planned. I'm thinking of putting these all into their own chapter. I didn't have the heart to delete them, because some are kind of funny. Interested? If so, I'll post.
A few minutes past noon on Saturday the team loaded into the back of a military transport and sped north to the BLU outpost. An hour after being loaded into the truck, seven travel-sick men and one woman gratefully leapt from the back of the transport onto sturdy ground.
Engineer had to back track to the truck to wake up Demo, who had slept the whole ride there. "We're 'ere?" his eyes opened slowly, the bright desert sun reflecting off of the sand.
Inside the outpost they were given water, sandwiches and a piece of fruit each before the same tailor who had measured them delivered their suits in black tied boxes. Three men wearing black suits with the BLU logo on the breast ushered them into a small locker room to change; the tailor escorted Pyro to a separate room.
First dressed was Sniper, wearing his silk black and sapphire tuxedo with an untied bowtie hung around his neck. He folded up his cuffs and inspected himself in the mirror. Heavy's suit was also black silk but with blue trim on the sleeves and detailing the lapels, and the thick band around his gut was also solid blue. Engineer's outfit lacked the white tuxedo undershirt, replaced by a solid cobalt buttoned silk shirt under a black sports jacket. His pants which were also black did not have any pockets, leaving him at a loss of what to do with his hands. He tried unsuccessfully to flatten his mottled hair, stuck up in many directions from wearing his hard hat.
Scout's suit was black with navy pinstripes with a white undershirt and tie, although he hadn't looped the tie correctly and it came out looking more like a noose than a clothing accessory. He brought with him his black wool baker boy hat to cover his shaved head, which didn't match whatsoever.
Demo wore the kilt he'd made, mostly cerulean with black and grey plaid and what looked like a rabbit's foot dangled from a leather strap on his right. He pulled his blue and black argyle socks up to his knees and wore the silk shirt and black jacket the tailor crafted for him, completing his clash of solid, plaid and argyle patterns.
Apparently Spy hadn't needed a suit, as he already had many and simply wore his best one, although he did sport a new pair of white gloves.
All eyes turned to Medic as he emerged from behind a set of lockers wearing a completely white silk suit and blue tie. Scout shook his head and laughed, and nearly collapsed when Medic put on a black fedora complete with an azure feather six inches long. He picked the flower out of his front pocket and frowned at it, preferring his black pen (his scalpel had been confiscated).
As they returned to the lobby Pyro met up with them wearing her tuxedo jumpsuit and top hat. She was embarrassed when she saw no one else was wearing a hat like hers, and even more so because it was sewn on and she couldn't remove it. Hopefully BLU would be generous enough to provide an open bar and everyone would forget her stupid top hat by the end of the night.
No one would know except for Demoman that under her penguin-esque attire she wore the black dress folded up on her hips. Demo had done an excellent job; the dress was the perfect length and stretched to hug her just like the calendar girl's did. He obliged her request for a collar, so instead of straps the dress gathered at the neck forming a triangle. She planned on changing out of the penguin suit a while after she got to the meeting. With luck no one would recognize her except for her team.
They conversed in the lobby for a while, talking about what they were wearing and generally enthused about the change of pace from battle to boredom to a fancy party. They were interrupted by a parade of men in BLU uniforms emerging from the receptionist desk, with none other than their Soldier following close behind.
The air left Pyro's lungs the instant she set eyes on Soldier, not because she hadn't seen him in almost a week but because he looked like a bastardized version of the megalomaniac Soldier she'd known for so long. His posture was different, he stood straight and his index finger wasn't constantly pulling an invisible trigger. His hair was cut neat and short and he was clean shaven; his silk suit matched his azure eyes. He did manage to keep his helmet which he tucked under his right arm, and he was… smiling?
"If it isn't my good ol' brothers in arms!" he beamed, his new white teeth sparkled. "It's been so long I nearly forgot what you all looked like! Ha!" he slapped Engineer on the back. "Just kidding, I couldn't forget you. How's the trade, Engie? Any new inventions?"
Engineer gawked, speechless.
"I'll take that as a no!" he smiled again and moved around to each of them, making awkward friendly comments and acting completely un-Soldier like.
"Did they do that lobomee thing ta him? What's wrong wit his teeth?" Scout whispered to Medic. Like everyone else Scout had noticed that Soldier's teeth were all there – meaning, the ones that were missing, the side and a few bottom molar teeth – were now all present and accounted for. BLU must have done a dental overhaul in addition to whatever they'd done to persuade him to forget his violent, paranoid self.
"Lobotomy, and no. This is vorse," said Medic finished, quickly pulling his face into a smile as Soldier grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously. "How ya been, Doc? Bit of a change from the lab coat, eh?" he gestured to his white suit and laughed.
Pyro was incredibly thankful no one could see her horrified expression. Soldier was… Not Soldier anymore. He wasn't sullen and yelling and trying to convince them they were all going to die if they didn't listen to his well thought out battle tactics. That and he'd never smiled before, only grinned maniacally. Now he wouldn't stop smiling, and it was giving Pyro the shivers.
"Does Soldier 'ave a brother?" Sniper leaned in toward Spy, who finished his third cigarette since Soldier met them in the lobby. "I zincerely 'ope zo," he sucked down his cigarette between his thumb and index fingers.
"Pyro!" Soldier shouted in a harsh, gruff voice more like his own, which was comforting and startling at the same time. "Pyro my friend," he grabbed her hand and held it in his, "great guy, this one!" he gave her an obvious wink and chuckled some more.
"So, uh, how was your stay?" Engineer asked timidly. Soldier whipped around and a flash of his eyes, the real Soldier and not this imposter sparked. The spark ebbed and Soldier's face softened into his new façade. "Food is a bit like eating wood chips but other than that, I feel like I've accomplished something."
Apparently this was all Soldier had to say. Heavy slapped Soldier on the back and laughed, "Ms. Blu told us, that you had been on a vacation. I must say, I was wishing I were you!" Instead of twisting around and assaulting Heavy for this obvious intrusion of his personal space, Soldier returned the slap and laughed along with him.
Sniper thought he might vomit and turned away. Something terrible had happened to their Soldier, to the only man on their team who volunteered to personally attend to the front lines and intimidated the competition with his ghastly lack of self preservation and frightening accuracy with a shoulder mounted rocket launcher. Without him, a serious gap would be torn in their offense, making his job and everyone else's much more difficult.
Everyone shared a timorous stupor as they boarded the train that had arrived at the outpost to carry them to the BLU headquarters. Soldier did not complain for the entire trip, unlike the time when the team was given a "vacation" to Greenwater and he shouted and argued with everyone the whole time they were on the train. Medic had to threaten him with drugs just to get him aboard, but now he boarded peacefully, thanking the conductor with a broad smile and handshake before finding a seat. Traveling used to inspire the worst of Soldier's paranoia, but now he sat in contented silence with Sniper's crossword puzzle.
"Whad'ya think they did to him?" Sniper leaned over and asked Medic who had taken a seat beside him.
"Honestly?" Medic looked at Sniper, his eyes full of apprehension, "I von't be able to tell you until I get him back to ze base und get time alone vith him."
Sniper made a sour face and rotated to watch the speeding scenery outside. This whole thing was downright loony. How could everyone stay so calm when one of their own had a mysterious personality overhaul? Soldier wasn't his favorite person, but that didn't mean he deserved to be brainwashed. Sniper's jaw unhinged.
"They brainwashed 'im!! Tha's what they did, I know it!" he whispered harshly to the Doctor who had bent his head back and closed his eyes. "Nein," he replied without looking up, "zhere iz no such zhing as brainwashing. He'll be vine for ze night, I'll look after him vhen ve return to base."
"Don't be a piker; somethin's wrong n' you know it, I know it and the only one'oo doesn't is Soldier!"
Medic stirred incredibly quickly from his resting position and glared at Sniper, "Do not pour your scorn on me, Sniper. Ve are on a train headed north to ze BLU headquarters, zhis is not ze place ve vould vant our old Soldier to return to. It iz a blessing zhat he iz not screaming at us, und perhaps now he von't cause us to be disparaged by ze entire company."
"You're saying you're glad he's like this?! Look at him! He took my crossword! He can't even spell his own goddamned name never mind figure out the capital of Sweden!"
Medic rose from his seat and yelled across the cabin, "Soldier! Vhat iz zhe capital of Sweden?"
"Thirty-six across, Stockholm!" Soldier replied boisterously without missing a beat.
He sat back down and gave Sniper a hint of a smug look. Sniper growled, "Our Soldier would have gone on about how Sweden didn't fight in the war and then start up one'a his stories about how he took on a whole company a Nazi's himself! I don't like Soldier but I know him, and that ain't him!" he huffed and glared.
"Listen," Medic's face softened as he put his practiced empathy to use, "I know vhat you are feelingk. I am also concerned of him, but please, have trust in me. I cannot do a zhing vhile ve are out. I give you my vord I vill look him over vhen ve get back."
"Jeaasus Chriest!" Demoman spun around in his seat in front of Sniper and Medic wearing his eye patch over his good eye, leaving his empty one to scrunch and wrinkle as he yelled, "Wail you two shut tha hell up fer a goddamned minute! I'll blow all yer heads offa ya if ai can't get no sleep this whole damn ride!" he turned back into his row and grunted some more before leaning his head on the window.
