"God damnit, Medibot, you're really heavy," Axel huffed, setting down the robot before doubling over, panting with effort. His back strained from having carried the robot up about six flights of stairs, having to pause every flight.
"Like I said Herr, I'm made of metal. I'm sure if I vas made of flesh and bone like you are, I'd be far lighter," Medibot replied. He had done whatever he could to help Axel, like having removed whatever parts he could replace easily. Which meant Axel had to go back down the last flight, take whatever remains was left there, and walk back up.
Medibot was certain of Axel's death glare as he went back down, gathering up the spare parts that had been removed, and returned. Medibot took a moment to fix back whatever removed parts before nodding to Axel, giving him the go to open the door.
They kept their stolen weapons close and at ready to be used, gingerly pushing open the door. Right above the door a red light flashed, making them freeze for a moment when they thought they had triggered it. Robots didn't seem to be around the door, so they exited the stairwell carefully.
Something moving caught Medibot's attention. While Axel scouted ahead, he went to investigate. Carefully, he approached the source of the movement, yelping in surprise when a red grenade popped out from the source. In his panic, Medibot returned three grenades, though inexperience in using a grenade launcher had his shots inaccurate and flying all over the place.
Axel snapped back and ran back to Medibot. "What the hell?"
A roaring Demoman leapt from the corner, brandishing his sword, ready to take Medibot's head. Axel shoved the robot back and stood between them. "Demo! Stop it!"
The sword froze, held above Demoman's head. For a moment he stood staring at Pyro, in his fireproof suit and gloves and boots and all, but no mask - just a white dragon skull mask sitting clipped to his belt.
"Pyro! Yer alright lad!" Demoman lowered the sword and embraced Axel in a crushing hug, one that squeezed a gasp out of him.
Axel took a gaping breath when he was finally let go, stumbling backward into Medibot who caught him. As if Demoman suddenly remembered the robot, he raised his grenade launcher. "Lad… don't move. Bloody bot…" He snarled, narrowing his lone eye at the silver Medic, who had no idea if he should run or hold his ground.
"No no, don't kill him. He's with me," Axel said, regaining his composure. Demoman gave him a certain look that could be read as the Are-you-really-who-you-look-like face, suddenly becoming wary of the Pyro. Axel returned a You-have-got-to-be-fucking-kidding-me face. Demoman suddenly swung out a fist at him, catching Pyro right in the jaw.
"Goddamnit you fucker!" Axel snarled. He glared at Demoman who looked rather satisfied with himself.
"Aye, sorry boyo. Just had ta know ye weren't one of those metal scraps," Demoman explained.
"Metal vhat?" Medibot repeated, sounding rather offended as Demoman eyed the grenade launcher in the robot's hands.
"Lad, d'ye even know how ta use that?" He asked. Medibot looked down at the launcher, then shook his head.
Demoman exchanged his sword for the grenade launcher, seemingly very pleased with himself for having two grenade launchers now. "Well I'm sure ye know how ta use that. Just swing it at people until they die."
"Wait wait, if you're here, where's the rest?" Axel asked. He still kept the stickybomb launcher near him as his only defence.
Demoman's eye wandered around the area as if he was looking for answers. "We split up when we got near. Scout and Spy went from the back, Engineer and Heavy went Lord knows where. I'd love ta tell ye where they are exactly, but I have no bloody idea."
"Never mind zhat, for now ve half to move because zhere are hundreds, maybe thousands of Gray's robots hunting us down," Medibot hissed. He urged to them start leaving, rolling ahead with Demoman's sword in hand.
They remained as silent as possible, for fear of triggering anything or catching anyone's attention. Medibot avoided places where he knew cameras were watching, though it would not be that easy to escape the many eyes Gray had planted all over the facility.
From his office Gray watched the many screens linked up to many cameras, his eyes darting from one screen to another, trying to catch the mercenaries that had invaded. He was tense, though he would never admit it. He hadn't thought Hale's mercenaries were smart enough to come looking for their friends.
A flicker of movement from one of the screens caught his attention. Instantly he was focused, watching as two men - a Heavy and an Engineer, passed along a hallway, easily fighting their way through swarms of robots. Gray scowled, wrinkles forming. From the floor, Olivia climbed onto a chair to get a better look.
"Don't worry daddy, they won't be able to get through all those robots," the little girl said. She looked innocent, but her heart was filled with the same cruel ambition as her father.
A crooked smile formed on Gray's lips. "You're right, Olivia dear. They won't, and I'll make sure of that."
…
Beyond the seemingly endless halls Heavy and Engineer were having a wild time shooting through robots. The metal warriors didn't seem to be able to hold up much and if anything, in such a tight space they faired even worse against the two REDs.
Scoutbots were clambering over each other and squeezing and pushing and shoving in their automated attempt to reach the mercenaries. The result was a slow moving line of robots also helping to destroy themselves.
"Leetle robots are stupid," Heavy commented casually as his minigun fired off into the crowd. Beside him, Engineer simply used a shotgun to fend himself. As they mowed through the hoard of robots, they looking around carefully, watching for anything of interest.
"Y'know, I'm startin' ta worry if the rest are alright. We should've considered some for of communication," Engineer muttered as the oncoming swarm of robots began to die down. Once they were in the clear, they began to warily wander around, having no exact idea where to go or what to do.
Engineer frowned, his hidden eyes darting around, searching the bleak, harshly-lit hallways as if a distant corner or a wall would magically have an answer written on it. He did not like being in a space he did not know - it made him greatly uncomfortable, his thumb constantly rubbing over the handle of the shotgun to remind himself it was there if he needed it.
They stopped in front of a door with a sign that screams for people to keep out. Naturally, it made the two mercenaries want to enter all the more. With his gloved hand, Engineer grabbed onto the door handle and pushed down. It didn't budge, frustrating him. He raised his shotgun, ready to shoot the handle when Heavy put his larger hand on the shotgun, lowering the barrel.
"Is not necessary, Engineer," the Russian fighter said. He crackled his knuckles and grabbed the handle, pushing down on it with as much force as a man as large as he could. The handle resisted for a moment, before it heaved and the lock broke under the weight.
Heavy flashed Engineer a triumphant smile, before gently nudging the door open. The room beyond was dark, but it did not stop the two REDs from entering anyway.
Carefully, they ran their hands around the wall a bit in search of a light switch. It took a little fumbling and tripping over wires that snaked around the floor, but Engineer managed to find a switch and flicked it on. A soft buzzing echoed around the room as the harsh, fluorescent lights flickered on.
Engineer sucked in a breath of awe as his eyes drifted upon two robots sitting at the end of the hallway, still deactivated. They were shiny and new, metal still polished and gleaming, not a scratch on them.
Heavy continued to lurk behind as Engineer approached the robots, gently running two fingers along the smooth surface of metal. One resembled a Pyro, and one a Medic. Immediately his mind linked back to the two missing mercenaries, and his heart dropped. Was it possible? Had that sick bastard Gray turned two living men into robots?
He took a closer inspection, going around the robots and peering inside as best as he could without taking it apart, before heaving a sigh of relief. They were completely made of metal and wire, as far as he could tell. During his investigation, he had noticed something unusual. At the centre of each palm on the Pyro was what seemed like a nozzle, embedded into the metal so that it didn't stick out. A new prototype, perhaps? The Medibot had similar features.
Engineer was so tempted to find some way to activate the robots to see what they would do, but Heavy seemed to want to leave. "Engineer. Is time to go. We must find Pyro and Doktor."
A small pang of guilt hit Engineer, but he shook it out. If there was time, he'd come back for these robots later. He nodded, following Heavy back out into the halls. He made a mental note on the door and left it.
…
Instead of following the plan Spy had lay out for everyone, chaos erupted instead. As soon as the doors opened, robots swarmed in. Spy had just enough time to sap the first few that came in, creating a barrier of paralysed bots. The rest was a mess. Bullets flew and Freedom repeatedly hit things with his shovel.
You must be kidding me, Spy thought as he ducked away and jam a knife into a Scoutbot's back, severing the wires that connected its core processor to its engine. By that point Scout had retreated up onto a high crate and was resorting to shooting from up there as other robots clambered after him. "A little help guys?" He called, a scream escaping his lips quickly after as a Scoutbot leapt onto his back, trying to throw him off the crate. "Oh my god get this off!"
Horst turned and fled from his little battle with a Demobot to help Scout, climbing up the crate as his hands began to spark and crackle with energy. Once he reached the top of the crate, he snagged the Scoutbot off its human counterpart and flung it down the crate, a barrier of energy flowing out and forming a translucent shield that glowed a soft blue.
Any robots that came into contact with the barrier popped and sizzled, those caught right through the middle of the barrier disintegrating into a smoking black mess. Horst was aware it wouldn't last for long, so with Scout now free to leap back into the fray, he himself jumped back down onto the ground to catch as many robots with the Vril barrier as possible.
As soon as the outside was clear, Makina ran out. "Let's get going before anyone else gets here!" He commanded. Spy waited for everyone else to leave - mostly Scout - before he rounded them up from behind.
"We need to find the rest. Meet at a central point, whatever's easiest for everyone. The less time we take to meet up, the more time we'll have to get out. Robot, what's the most central point in this building?" Spy asked. He was going to hack some form of communication system and let the rest know - if they were still alive.
Makina couldn't help but feel a little irritated at being addressed as a 'robot'. It reminded him of how cold he was. He was a little tempted to return with a snarky remark, but it wouldn't help. "Centre point of the facility is a bridge between here and the second wing of the factory. It's not going to be fun or anything, because that place blew up some years ago and no one fixed it, mostly because there's not much of interest in the second wing."
"What's the next best place then?"
The group didn't stop moving. They couldn't, it was far too much of a risk to stop. "If everyone's in this wing, a centre point isn't the best place to be, but Gray's office is. You can get there, you can take over the facility. It's as heavily guarded as Area 51 would be, so if you're planning to get there…" Makina huffed, "be careful."
Spy nodded. "So I will be. I will take the boy with me in case anything goes wrong." Scout adjusted his bonnet and give Spy a firm nod, gripping his scattergun tighter. Already he was forming an idea of how well guarded Gray's office would be.
"Once we have shut down the defences on Gray's office, come up. Till then, try to find the rest." With that, the two mercenaries split from the group and went off on their own, disappearing down one of the hallways.
…
"This place is robot hell." Demoman's one eye flicked around, keeping a constant lookout for robots coming. For the loss of one eye, his hearing had been a little sharper.
"As in, hell for robots or hell with robots?" Axel returned. Already his knuckles were red and sore from an earlier fistfight with another Pyrobot.
"How about both? Aye lad, do robots have hell?" Medibot gave Demoman a sideway glance, unsure how to answer the question.
For their entire time walking, nothing interesting had happened say for a fight here or there with a guard. "I don't know. If an incinerator can count as hell, zhen yes, ve do have one." He paused as a message blinked by, his steps slowing to a halt as he opened and read the message from Makina.
From: SNP359-08 (Alias: Makina)
To: MED208-07 (Alias: None)
Doc. If you're still alive with the Pyro, get up to Gray's office as soon as you can. There's a Spy and a Scout working to shut off the defences. I'm still here with Medic and Freedom. Reply if you're still alive.
Medibot took a moment to write back to Makina. Axel noticed him stop walking, and prodded him. "Hey, you okay?"
From: MED208-07 (Alias: None)
To: SNP359-08 (Alias: Makina)
I'm still here, and the Pyro's still alive. We have a Demoman as well. We'll get to Gray's office as soon as possible.
The message blinked away as it was sent, and Medibot snapped out of his momentary pause. "Ja, sorry. Makina sent me a message. Ve have to go up to Gray's office. Apparently some of your friends are trying to disable zhe security system up zhere, if zhat's even possible without Gray's biosignature."
Medibot hefted the sword up again, turning to lead them up to Gray's office. He pushed open another door to a stairwell and looked at the ground in guilt as Axel scowled at the stairs.
"Not this shit again."
