The two captives were led at the point of several guns across the bridge and down underground and herded into a small room with chairs and made to sit around a table. Their weapons had been taken, but but it was better safe than sorry. "Who are you, and who sent you." The masked man asked, circling around the table before he paused, leaning on his hands on the table between them.
"Look, Mate, I don't know her name. Just how much we're getting paid." Junkrat said with a laugh, throwing his leg over the knee of his pegged one. The spy raised a brow, a mixture of curiosity and concern flickering in his gray blue eyes. "Your employer is a woman?"
"Yeah. That important or somethin?"
"Possibly." The spy replied, pulling his hands from the table, clasping them behind his back thoughtfully.
"Look, it aint nuthin personal, us attackin and killin yer friend back there. It's jus' business."
"This lady who hired ya," The man in the hardhat said, "What'd she look like?"
"I dunno… short, young, dark hair an' these creepy eyes. Said she was an old lady but she couldn't 'ave been any older than I am." Junkrat shrugged. "Good job offer though. Kill some blokes, collect some pretty rocks if we find em, and maybe see Australia in the past. All very straight forward, ya see. Now, are we gonna go back ta fightin each other or what. We still have a job ta do, after all." He said, biting back a string of giggling.
"No," The Spy said simply "I'm afraid we will not be resuming the fight, if whatever that was could even be called a fight. We need answers, and if you do not have them, or refuse to give them up, then there is no reason not to kill you where you sit now." He said, pulling a cigarette case and lighter from his suit jacket. Opening the case, he took a cigarette from it before stowing the case back in his jacket neatly.
"Hah! It'll take a lot more'n you lot to take us out." Said Junkrat with a laugh.
"You are aware of the fact that there is nine of us, and two of you, non?"
"Eight." Junkrat corrected. "There's eight of ya. Gotta subtract that scrawny one Roadie blasted." He laughed.
"I counted correctly." The spy said, rolling his eyes. "But I am doubting your ability to read the situation. Even without our Scout, the two of you are still far outnumbered. There is little chance either of you will leave here alive."
"Bah, you don't spook us." The Junker spat, waving a dismissive hand.
"Somehow, that does not sound surprising. You do not seem the type of man to have much of a self preservation instinct when It comes to danger."
"Oi, I resent that notion." Junkrat said crossly.
"….It's true." His giant companion said pointedly.
"So, what happens next is simple." The flick of the lighter igniting punctuating the Spys sentence. "You are going to tell us everything we want to know, and then we will decide whether to kill you here or dump you out in the desert for the buzzards and whatever else comes along to enjoy the free meal of your corpses." He brought it the cigarette to his lips, taking in a deep drag.
"Oh its all quite simple, really. Sheila says, go back and get some shiny rocks, kill some blokes for me, put the rocks somewhere safe to collect in the future, and make bank." The Junker said with a laugh. "Course, we might take a few tiny detours when we're done killin' you before we go get them rocks. Do a little sightseeing. Not like she'll know the difference, eh Roadie?" He said, nudging the giant man with his elbow.
"Rocks?" The spy asked, smoke curling around the word. Surely they didn't mean what he thought they did.
"Oh yeah, real rare. Paying us a fortune for the stuff she is. Best part is no damn bots far as the eye can see. Real good gig we got ourselves." Junkrat replied, resting his hands behind his head as he slouched back in his chair, noting the uneasy glances shared between his captors. "Now, if you don't mind, howsabout we get back to the fightin? We do gotta job to do after all."
"What do you mean by no bots?" The rifleman asked, straightening out of his slouch against the wall.
"Just that, mate. No bots. Real nice not to have to go around pretending them scrap heaps are people. Real nice." Junkrat replied.
"Pretending they're not…. Wait, you said go see Oz in the past, and stow them rocks away for the future. What the bloody hell does that mean?"
The scrawny Junker let out a stream of high pitched laughs, a knowing grin stretching over his face. "Not that I expect a bunch of old timey drongos like you to understand, but our employer, see, got some fancy tech, sent us straight from the future. You ought to be flattered, really, that some mighty warriors for the future like us are the ones who are supposed t'killa ya."
"You are from future?" The Largest of them said, breaking the air of silence he had held, cold eyes looking at the pair critically. "I am finding this hard to believe."
"Bloody oath, after all, why else would we have such fancy tools, eh?" The junker replied, wiggling his the fingers of his prosthetic hand in the air. "Don't have anything like this, now do ya."
"Actually," Said the Engineer, slipping off the thick glove that covered his right hand off, showing off a mechanical skeleton of a hand, metal fingers flexing in return. "We do. Got a feeling you ain't right about a lot of things here."
"If your employer was smart enough to send you back in time, I assume they provided a way back to your own time for when you are done killing us and collecting pretty rocks, oui?" The Spy questioned.
Junkrat held up a finger "Of course she… wait a minute…." His face scrunched up in deep thought and Spy blew out a lazy puff of smoke. "That tells me everything." He said, cigarette bobbing between his teeth as he spoke. "So your employer sent you to do their dirty work, and provided no way home. That would suggest they had no intention of paying you in the first place."
"That bloody… Oi, Hog, you remember anything about a way back home?"
"The man." Was all his larger companion said, and Junkrat snapped his fingers. "That's right! We're supposed to find this bloke with a color for a name when we're done!" He exclaimed.
"That colour would not happen to be Gray, would it?"
"How d'you know that?"
"Because," The Spy said, holding the cigarette between two fingers. "We know Gray Mann. He is the man responsible for the robot attacks. Trust me when I say he has no intention of helping you return home. In fact, he is much more likely to kill you than help you."
"Ooh reaaally now?" Junkrat said, a brow raising skeptically. "Well we are getting paid to off you drongos. Sure, he'd kill you, but how d'you know he'd kill us. That seems sorta strange, don't it?"
"No, not at all." The spy assured. "Because you see, something your employers neglected to inform you, is that killing us, will be nothing more than a distraction at best." He said. "They neglected to inform you that for us, death is but a mere inconvenience."
"Oh har har. Look, mate, I know a lotta weird shit happens in this world, but ain't no way you can just cheat death. Not now, anyways." Junkrat said, shaking his head.
"It does not matter if you believe us or not. But the truth is, you were hired to distract us, and waste your own time." Spy said dismissively. "Which leaves us to the question of why they are trying to distract us." He said, turning to the others. "Where would they be going to attack that they would go to these lengths to try to keep our attentions occupied."
"One of the weapons factories?" The one in the shooting glasses offered. "Maybe lookin' for a place to make more bots?"
"It is a possibility." The spy agreed. Surely Gray Mann had more than enough resources that he wouldn't need a weapons factory. Though perhaps he wished to cut off another one of their supply sources, or convert it into a robotics factory, closer to them than his land to swarm them in more? There was some reason behind this unorthodox attack. He was a smart man. The key would be figuring out what was the true target, and what would make it important enough to go through all the trouble of sending someone back, if the story of time travellers could be trusted. It seemed implausible, especially from someone like the pair before them, but had they not gone back in time themselves a few times? He recalled the most unusual Halloween they'd had when they had to go back and stop a giant flying eyeball from trying to become their parents?
"Are they dead? They better not be dead. I want first crack at the big one!" A voice cut through the short quiet that had fallen over the group as minds wondered at the purpose or what to make of the situation. The Spy didn't hide the smug smirk that crossed his face as the would be Assassin sat up straight in his seat with open surprise on his face at the sight of the Scout barging into the room angrily.
"I told you, nine." Spy muttered smugly.
"Oh harhar, pulling the twin act eh? I saw Roadie hook ya like a fish 'fore he turned ya insides out."
"Oh yeah, bet you think that was real funny, don'tcha, well I ain't dead anymore, buddy." Scout said, pulling out a chair across from them, flopping himself into it.
"Well, if they're targeting something while we're here, maybe we ought to get a move on to one of the other bases and see if we can't suss out what they might be after." The Sniper said, earning a few nods from his fellows.
"Might be a good idea. We can try to figure all this mess out while we pack up. Ms Pauling might know a thing or two about what they might be after. If she don't call, we should see about giving her or the admin one." Said the Engineer.
"And what about us, huh?" Junkrat said crossing his arms.
"You," The Spy began "Well be staying in here until we've decided what to do with you."
"Oh c'mon, that aint right. We ain't getting paid to get just sit around."
"As it stands, you probably weren't going to be getting paid either way. Now," he replied before he addressed the rest of the group. "Lets get going, we've got work to do, and time is of importance." he looked up at their largest fellow, the pair exchanging understanding nods. That would take care of who would guard the captive strangers.
"I'll go make some calls." Said the engineer, as men began filing from the room.
"And I'll go keep watch. Make sure we ain't gonna be caught by surprise again." Said the Sniper, pushing off the wall. Adjusting his gear before he slipped from the room too, heading for the battlements. Intent to climb up to the high point of the building. It would be a better view for the desert around them. He'd need a more open view than keeping an eye out for slippery scouts or sneaky spies. Those days were so much simpler. Robots attacks, and now time travelers? Things couldn't have stayed nice and simple, could they.
Once He'd finally finished his ascent, he made himself as comfortable as he could on the rickety wooden platform, wishing he'd made the stop grab a pot of coffee with him. He wasn't sure how long it would take the brainiacs to decide what to do, or how long it might take for Pauling to call with orders from the Admin. Having the boost if he found himself sitting there for long enough to grow tired would have been nice. He kept a careful eye on the distance around them, giving a few sweeps of his scope. Eventually letting himself slouch against the wall and his mind wander. Were those two really from the future? Were they really from Australia? The one with the mask could look the part of an Australian, with how large he was. Maybe he had a mustache under that eerie mask, but where was the chest hair? And while the scrawny one was impressively tall, he was just that, scrawny. No chest hair shaped like their homeland, no mustache, no bulging muscles. Granted, he knew he himself didn't fit the part of an Australian either, but at least he didn't look like he was some starved Mad Max character. He doubted the chance of finding not one but two others who didn't fit the description either.
He sat up straight as movement on the horizon caught his eye, and he swung his scope in the direction of it, brows furrowing at the group of figures that looked like they had come straight out of one of those strange science fiction tv shows. "What in the bloody…." He mumbled as he looked through his scope at the strange group the approached in the distance. Whoever they were, they weren't local, and they most certainly weren't welcome here. He aimed down, a little ways, waiting for the right moment before he squeezed the trigger, watching the sand at the one in the leads feet burst into the air, sending them all scrambling back for cover. "That's right, scurry off like roaches." He muttered, watching for a moment as they re-converged with one another before hurrying back the way they'd come before he slung his rifle back over his shoulder. The others were bound to be wondering what he'd been shooting at if they'd heard his shot go off, and he needed to tell them what he'd seen.
There were a lot more than just two of them, and it wouldn't bode well if the others were caught unaware of the potential trouble heading their way.
Whatever move they made next, they'd have to hurry it up.