Author's Note: I apologize again for the late update. I've been fangirl squeeing about the new Zelda updates and completely neglected updating. Thanks again for the reviews, and keep 'em comin'!

Chapter 37 - The Hunted

Spy was running as fast as he could toward the BLU base carrying Scout in his arms. Though he was still clinging tightly to Spy and shaking, Scout had calmed down enough to think straight. He tugged on Spy's suit collar.

"Theo, wait!" he cried out. "We've got to go back and help Dad! Bane'll kill him!"

"Your father's going to be fine!" assured Spy in-between breaths. He wasn't used to this high level of energy being exerted in carrying someone while running at full speed. "Getting you to safety is my main priority right now!"

"But…!" Before he could continue, Spy skidded to a halt as three men in dark purple suits and sunglasses blocked their path. Spy turned around as he heard three more identical men approach them from behind. The six men moved around to surround the two, aiming their guns at them.

"Victory!" blared The Administrator over the speakers, indicating that BLU had succeeded in capturing all five points. Scout and Theo's eyes widened in horror upon realizing that they were trapped with no way of defending themselves against the armed men. Scout knew the men were there for him and he was terrified that they were going to kill Spy while trying to fulfill their mission. He clung to Spy tighter as he buried his face into Spy's shoulder.

"Somebody help!" he whimpered loudly. Spy held Scout closer as he felt his lover begin to tremble in fear. Spy began to shake, too, knowing that the respawn barrier had been shut off at the end of the match. Spy's eyes widened more as the men began to close in on the two.

"HELP!" screamed Spy, hoping somebody nearby would hear them. His prayers were answered when one of the men collapsed with a bullet wound to his head. Spy looked up at the source of the shot, seeing Sniper reloading his rifle.

"Get down!" he shouted. Spy did as he was told and quickly knelt down on the ground, shutting his eyes tightly and holding Scout protectively. He heard Sniper's rifle go off once more, followed by another of the men's dead bodies collapsing onto the ground. The sound of a revolver shooting reverberated through his ears along with the death cry of a third man. He then heard multiple footsteps darting through the snow in their direction, all shooting off their weapons at the remaining men, who were shooting back at their attackers.

"Heavy!" bellowed BLU's Soldier. "Protect Spy and Scout!"

"Da!" replied the hulking Russian. Spy soon saw darkness through his shut eyes as he felt Heavy pull him and Scout close to him. Heavy took out his shotgun and, with one hand, shot at the attacking men. He killed one as Soldier shot a rocket at two of the others, killing them instantly. Spy cringed as he heard Heavy grunt in pain shortly after hearing a pistol being shot nearby.

After one more explosion and death cry, silence fell on the arena. Spy slowly lifted his head and opened his eyes to look at the death and destruction around him. All six men that had attacked them were lying on the ground dead – half of them were lying in multiple pieces. He looked up at Heavy, who loosened his grip on the two of them, smiling in relief. He looked down at Spy.

"Are Tiny Spy and Scout okay?" Spy nodded slightly, still holding Scout close.

"Yes, thank you," he replied. He looked down at Scout, whom he had noticed had stopped shaking. "Danny? Are you okay?" No response. He shook him lightly. "Danny?" Again, no response. He pulled back a bit to see that Scout had passed out during the altercation. He tried shaking him again, trying to wake him up. "Danny!"

"Ach, was ist los!" cried Medic as he rushed over. Spy momentarily looked around to see that all of BLU and Red were present, then back down at the unconscious Scout in his arms. Medic checked Scout over, then sighed in relief. "He vill be fine. He merely passed out from zhe shock of zhe fight." Medic lifted his head to see Heavy's bleeding right arm. "Mein Gott! Heavy!" Heavy looked at his bleeding arm, then at Medic, giving him an smile.

"I am okay, Doctor," he said assuredly. Medic shook his head, standing up and going around to Heavy's other side, examining the wound. Medic stood up, motioning for Heavy to do the same. Heavy stood up, keeping a hand on his injured arm. As Heavy was guided back to respawn, Red knelt down next to Spy and Scout, brushing some hair gently off of Scout's forehead. He then glanced at Spy.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," replied Spy shakily.

"I'm glad you two are okay," sighed Red in relief. Spy lowered his eyes.

"I'm sorry I didn't return from respawn soon enough," he apologized in a low voice. Red placed a hand on Spy's shoulder, causing Spy to lift his head to look at him. Red gave him a small smile.

"It's okay. I'm not mad. I was able to get there and separate Bane from him and you got him out of his reach, so there's no foul."

"I wasn't expecting those men to show up, though…" Red frowned.

"None of us were. I'm just glad you two weren't hurt and the only casualty on our end was Heavy's injury."

"Where's Bane?"

"He fled. We'll definitely be seeing him again. I was going to chase after him, but I heard your cries for help and wanted to get to you first." The two spies looked up once they heard Sniper rush over, kneeling next to them.

"Is 'e alright?" he asked. Spy nodded.

"He's fine. He just needs to rest." Sniper frowned.

"Are you okay?" Spy began to look a little irritated.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that? I'm fine!" Sniper placed a hand on Spy's other shoulder, giving him a disbelieving look.

"You say that, but I can still feel you shaking." Spy's look softened a bit. "Plus you're looking pretty pale and exhausted. You should probably lie down." Spy looked down at Scout, then held him close once more, closing his eyes. Sniper's frown deepened. "Give Danny t'Red. I'll 'elp you up." Spy handed Scout over to Red, who stood up, carrying his son in his arms. Sniper was about to help Spy up before the Frenchman held up a hand, refusing the help. Spy began to stand up on his own, but his legs became shaky before he got half way up. He started feeling incredibly dizzy and nauseous, bringing a hand up to his mouth. Sniper caught him before he fell completely over.

"Mon Dieu, I feel sick…" groaned Spy. Sniper wrapped Spy's free arm around his shoulders and held his hand with his left one while he brought his right hand around to Spy's side. Once he had a good hold of Spy, he helped him stand up straight. Spy leaned on Sniper for balance while the Australian helped him walk toward the base with Red and Scout behind him.

"C'mon, let's get you t'bed."

"Take him to my room, Sniper," ordered Engineer, who had joined the group. "Scout should be awake by the time we get back, so let Spy take the bed." Sniper nodded. Spy could feel his eyelids drooping and his dizziness worsen.

"R-Red," he beckoned.

"Theo, what's wrong?" asked Red worriedly, noticing the bad condition Spy was in.

"Stay with us for a while. We have…important…infor…ma…tion…for…" Before he could finish, his world went black as the sounds around him began to quickly fade.

"THEO!"

Spy felt like he was floating on a cloud. That cloud soon took the form of a bed. He felt hot and cold, light and heavy, and moving and stationary all at the same time. He felt a cold, wet handkerchief dab at his sweating face, bringing him back to his senses. He slowly opened his eyes, seeing Scout's worried face as the young man tended to him. Scout looked at Spy, then smiled in relief.

"You're awake!" he exclaimed. "How are you feeling?" Spy brought a hand up to his face, feeling a cool washcloth on his forehead. He looked around and saw Red and the rest of the BLU team in the room with him. Upon seeing the boarded-up window, he could tell he was in Engineer's room.

"You gave us quite a scare there, Theo," stated Red. Spy turned his head to look at him.

"Sorry about that," he apologized. Scout gently placed a hand on Spy's flushed cheek.

"How's your stomach?" he asked. Spy looked up at him, taking the hand that was on his face into his.

"It's better. More importantly, are you okay?" Scout nodded.

"I'll be fine. I'm more worried about you right now. Doc said you've got the flu."

"What…?"

"You vere more zhan likely exposed to zhe virus on zhe train ride here," explained Medic. "Zhe stress you endured today flared up your symptoms." Spy brought a hand up to his eyes to cover them. "You vill be staying off of zhe battlefield until you are vell."

"Merde…" he groaned. "How am I supposed to protect Danny on the battlefield if I'm sick?"

"Dell, weren't you successful in getting rid of Danny's pneumonia back at Viaduct with your dispenser?" Engineer nodded.

"Yup! Why don't I turn on the respawn barrier and build a dispenser in here? That should do the trick." Medic crossed his arms, clearing his throat.

"Or you could just turn on zhe barrier and let me use mein Medigun," he suggested. "Zhen I can use it on Heavy's arm, too."

"Doctor, I am fine," insisted Heavy. "It is a minor injury."

"It is an injury nonezheless, and it needs to be healed. Engineer, please turn zhe barrier on." Engineer nodded, grabbing his radio. He switched channels on it.

"Dell to Bill?" he asked into the radio.

"Go ahead," replied Bill on the other end.

"I'm going to turn the barrier on for a few minutes. We have some injured that need to be healed."

"Ten-four." Once the transmission ended, Engineer pulled out the control device from his pocket and pressed the "on" switch. He gave Medic a thumbs-up, giving him the okay to use the Medigun. Medic pulled it out and tried to use it, but the pack on his back made a loud popping noise before it began to smoke. Heavy pulled it off of Medic's back upon seeing the smoke. Medic exhaled the breath he was holding in.

"Danke, Heavy," he sighed. Engineer scratched his chin.

"Sounds like I've got some repairs to do before we fix our teammates. Come with me to the training room with that; all of my tools are in there." Medic nodded as he and Heavy followed Engineer out of the bedroom.

"While Engineer is fixing Medic's equipment," started Soldier, "we need to discuss a few things. First: regarding those men in suits appearing during our battles two days in a row, does anyone have any information as to who the hell they are?"

"They're Helen's special agents," explained Red. "They're her top agents that she trusts with her life. There's only about twenty of them, if I remember correctly, and they have to go through a year or so of training and background checks to get to that level, much like the secret service agents who protect the President of the United States. Considering the fact that we've taken out nine of them to this date, we should expect probably eleven more at most to try and come for Danny. It's highly unlikely that we'd expect more than that; she refuses to train new agents until one retires or dies." Scout frowned, lowering his head.

"Great…" he moaned. Spy gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. Scout looked at him, smiling slightly as he squeezed back. Soldier looked at Spy.

"Second order of business: you," continued Soldier. Spy looked at him, getting an uneasy feeling in his stomach. "You are no longer allowed to go around the base alone." Spy quickly sat up.

"What! Why!" he challenged. He quickly regretted moving so quickly as a wave of dizziness hit him. Scout helped him lay back down gently. Soldier crossed his arms.

"Red, Sniper and I were talking about Bane's attack today, and with how determined he is to have Scout for himself, we're afraid he may try to kill you during ceasefires. If you are with Scout, since I know you two want some alone time, have one of us nearby at least in the next room or out in the hallway. If you're in the common areas, that's fine." Spy frowned, turning his head away. Scout squeezed his hand again, causing Spy to look up at the young man. Scout gave him an apologetic look.

"Danny, it's not your fault," assured Spy. Scout lowered his head.

"Yes, it is," he retorted. "If Bane hurt you at all, it'd be because of me. As terrified as I am of him and what he'd do to me, I'm more afraid of losing you to him. You, Dad, Jack…everyone. These other guys I can handle. I can fight back."

"Danny," started Sniper, "I remember 'ow scared you were when you killed those agents yesterday. I know 'ow much you 'ate killin' people permanently." Scout looked at Sniper.

"I hate having their blood on my hands, but…there's nothing I can do about it. I can accept now that it was out of self-defense. It just took me a while to come to terms with that. I know that if I have to kill again, it'll be for the same reasons and I'll be able to handle it better." Sniper smiled slightly, though that smile faded when Scout lowered his head again. "My first 'kill' though…that guy that I thought I killed in Boston was Bane!" The entire room gasped in surprise. "He used a fuckin' Dead Ringer! I know he was given one for that mission and he held onto it this whole time!" Scout stopped himself to calm himself down, feeling another panic attack coming on. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, squeezing Spy's hand. Spy squeezed back, which seemed to help Scout as he was able to calm completely down.

"You should probably talk to Medic when you get a chance," suggested Red. "I think some anti-anxiety pills will help you quell your panic attacks." Scout nodded.

"I'll do it later. Thanks, Dad." Red nodded. Scout looked up at his father for a few moments, then looked at Soldier. "I need to talk to Dad privately about something. I'm sorry, but could you guys leave? Jack can stay until Engie gets back." Sniper blinked.

"You're not mad at me?" he questioned in surprise. Scout shook his head.

"Theo explained everything to me, so no, I'm not mad." Sniper smiled in relief.

"I still owe you an apology, mate."

"Apology accepted, man." Soldier shook his head and smirked.

"Okay, okay, we're getting out of here," he announced. He faced his teammates. "Move out!" Once the rest of the team left the room and Soldier closed the door behind him, Red gave his son a confused look.

"Danny, what's going on? What did you need to tell me?" he asked. Scout stood up and walked over to his father, taking off his dog tags and handing them to him. Red took them into his hands and looked at them, confused. "Why are you giving these back to me? I thought…" Scout cut him off when he handed him a slip of paper. Red opened it up and studied it. Once he connected the dots, his eyes widened in surprise. "Danny! This is…"

"…the code you were looking for," answered Scout in a low voice. "I don't know what the code's for, but Casey said you were looking for one. You had it engraved on your dog tags this whole time." Red brought a hand up to his head, shutting his eyes.

"And my earthquake-induced amnesia made me forget that I did that. I stupidly gave you my tags when you were a toddler not realizing that. Danny, I'm so sorry I inadvertently put you in danger this whole time because of this."

"What's the code for anyway?" Red looked at everyone in the room, took a deep breath, then sighed.

"This doesn't leave this room," he started, speaking barely above a whisper. Scout, Spy and Sniper nodded simultaneously in understanding. "This is what's going on…"