Away from the factory of deadly robots the Mann Co mercenaries were preparing strategies to fight back efficiently. The last few battles against the robots Gray had sent had been increasingly difficult.

Miss Pauling spread a map out into the wooden table in front of her blood and oil spattered mercenaries. There were just six of them. The Pyro, Demoman and Engineer were from RED, and the Medic, Heavy and Scout from BLU. It wasn't the most ideal situation seeing as how the first few times they had been tempted to turn guns on each other, but they had settled enough to not be trying to kill each other all day.

"You just can't be everywhere at once," Miss Pauling sighed, staring at the map of all the Mann Co bases that had not already been taken over. "Where, just where will they attack?"

None of the mercenaries said anything. Truth be told, no one knew. The robots were unpredictable and would attack wherever Gray sent them.

"Ye know lass, I still see why we can't just go fight the wee old shite himself. Save ourselves the trouble of fighting his blasted robots," Demoman argued.

"I'd say that was a good idea, but if you reach his factory, we'd be at a disadvantage. We don't know the place and there's bots all over. We don't even know if he is at the factory or not."

"Ye got a point lass, but given the chance I'll cut his bloody head off," Demoman muttered.

Medic sighed. "Vell, vherever zhey're going to attack ve'll be ready. At least ve already know he's going to come here, to Mannhattan. Zhere's only so many entrances."

"Hnnlesh hh dhhccides thh mhhke hishh hwn ehnntrhnnce," Pyro mumbled. So far only Engineer and Demo could translate the mumbling. The BLUs gave them an expectant look.

"He said there's only so many entrances unless Gray makes his own. Probably by blowing up a wall or something," Engineer said. Pyro nodded along, adjusting the steaming dragon skull mask that sat over his gas mask.

Miss Pauling stared at the map in frustration. "You know what, you all can figure it out. Wherever they attack, just be ready." Her standing around not knowing how to help them was no good. Better to just leave them to prepare.

No one knew when they would attack, so they had to be on guard at all times. The team of six nodded, leaving the small crammed room to get fresh air outside.

Scout leapt up onto one of the crates outside, staring into the distance. "Why da hell this stupid Gray guy gotta keep sending robots? Face it, we're too awesome for them! Any of his robots ever go back working? No! The bastard's gotta run out of robots eventually," he snorted, taking off the Beastly Bonnet that say on his head and running a hand through his hair.

"You drink a lot of Bonk. But Bonk does not run out, da? Is same thing Scout," Heavy said, passing the younger and much smaller man.

"Whaddya know, fatty?" Scout hissed after him. Speaking of bonk, he pulled out another can and opened it, letting the sweet energy drink flow into his mouth. Oh man, that tasted great. He licked the too-sweet drink off his lips, staring at the faint outline of the factory in the distance.

That thing was nothing but trouble. He had a silent wish to just go and blow the entire facility up, but it was a dream that was impossible to achieve, at least not yet. There were probably more facilities elsewhere anyway, filled with robots ready to charge at any moment's notice.

A familiar distant mumbling had the Scout turning his head to watch the Pyro practicing against the Medic. Scout had known a long time ago that the Medic wasn't the same as RED's, in the sense that his healing was not done purely by technology, but rather just amplified by it. He had questioned the good doctor about it before, but the older man never bothered to give a too in depth response, probably because Scout asked at all the wrong times.

A few days after the six of them had teamed up did Scout find out that the RED Pyro had a sort of similar supernatural ability to generate fire from his palms. It wasn't as useful as a flamethrower's flames seeing as how the range was much shorter, but it was fascinating to watch the Pyro practice nonetheless.

If Scout had not known better he would have though the two mercenaries were really fighting. Pyro shot bursts of flame continuously at Medic, who defended himself with ease with small shields of energy, but neither of them had the intention of hurting each other, even if it looked that way.

The young BLU watched in fascination from where he sat, studying carefully how each burst of fire started as a small spark in the middle of Pyro's palm before it grew bigger and was fired. Even if it seemed like Medic was not ready at all, he always managed to defend himself just in time, the flames dissipating into the smoke before him.

After a few more hits, Pyro stopped, doubling over for a bit to catch his breath. He straightened up once more, giving Medic a thumbs up and readjusting the steaming Pyromancer's mask that sat on top of his gas mask. No one could really explain how the thing was steaming but no one questioned it. Such was the way of Unusuals.

Medic sighed and leaned back against a crate. "Herr Pyro, I swear you do zhis just to tire me out," he complained. Pyro shrugged.

"Hh's nhht mhh fhhlt yhrr ohhld," Pyro mumbled, trying to suppress a laugh when he realised the BLU had no clue what he just said. He opened the front ventilator of his mask, though any facial features were still concealed by shadows and the muzzle of the dragon skull mask. "'S not my fault you're old," he repeated.

"Vhat- I'm not zhat old," Medic sulked. When Scout caught wind of hearing the Pyro speak clearly for once, he came bounding over.

"Duuuuude!" The scrapper said, leaping on top of the crate Medic was leaning on. "I knew it! You're a dude. Man, Heavy's gonna owe me ten bucks," Scout cried gleefully. "Hey hey Pyro, why don't ya take off the entire mask?"

Pyro hesitated, unsure of the request. He'd taken it off before, but that was only around his own team. This request was on a whole new level. These were BLUs they were talking about, and Pyro wasn't sure if heeding to Scout's plea would break the terms of his contract. Deciding it was too much of a risk, he shook his head.

"Sorry Scout, it's not gonna happen," Pyro said. Scout made a face and pouted. Man, the BLU Pyro never said a word except when on the battlefield, and he desperately wanted to know who was behind the mask, even if this was a RED. Wait, did he? What if it was some English-speaking alien? What if he had to kill everyone who saw him maskless? Pyro closed the ventilator again, reducing his speech once again to mumbling. "H'mm ghnna gahh bhhk inshhde."

Instead of following Pyro, Scout sat hunched on the crate, giving at glance to Medic. "Ya two got real close," he commented nonchalantly. If there was one thing Medic liked about Scout, it was that he was not as annoying at the RED one, or so Pyro had told him. Apparently from the stories he'd heard RED Scout was constantly making jokes that sometimes turned in accusations about the team being gay. BLU Scout was a just marginally quieter and a lot more sensible.

"Vell, yes. If ve're going to be stuck vith each ozher for avhile I'd get used to zhem," Medic replied, ruffling his hair with a hand. "Zhey seem alright."

"Yeah I mean, they're okay but ya two got real close real fast."

"And… is zhere a problem vith zhat?"

"Well… no not really. Just an observation, ya know?"

"Admittedly it's a good observation. Herr Pyro is very interesting. All Pyros are very interesting. Anyvay, I think dinner is being prepared so I'm going to go back, ja?"

Scout watched Medic head back to the base first before he followed behind, maintaining a respectable distance from the doctor. Dinner was confirmed as he pulled open the shutter door of the base. It was a minor inconvenience, but it prevented the robots from getting in seeing as how they were apparently not programmed to bend down and lift things that weren't the bomb up. The strong smell of flame-grilled tiger prawns and other fried seafood had Scout darting to his seat at the table.

Engineer had made most of the food, with Pyro doing the flame-grilling of the prawns. The food was divided into equal portions, with the leftovers being free-for-all. They weren't comfortable enough to be eating together as a team of six yet, so once the plates were handed out, the REDs retreated to one side of the room and the BLUs remained at the table. Pyro sat out of view of the BLUs where he could remove his mask and eat in peace.

"Hey, hey doc," Scout whispered, realising that the Pyro would have to remove his mask to eat. "D'ya think I could like, sneak over and see Py maskless?" He asked.

"Uhm, as curious as I am I don't zhink zhat's a good idea," Medic said, in-between mouthfuls of calamari.

"Actually, to hell with ya, I'm doing it anyway. Like, later."

Medic rolled his eyes. There was no stopping Scout once he had his mind set.

Makina got up from his fairly uncomfortable position as soon as the mercenaries left their place outside to go back into their base. For as long as the Pyro and Medic had been outside practicing, which could have been almost an hour, he'd been watching them through the scope of his rifle. He'd removed the laser pointer so no one could see him from where he sat, up in a cliff hangover, his metal body obscured by shadows.

He'd taken note of everything. How they moved, how they interacted, and saved it all in a little file for future reference and so he would have something to tell Gray. Having nothing else to watch for, he got up, following the Heavyset escort back to the factory.