A/N: CACAWWWWW I AM NOT DEAD. I made this one extra long and with some funny/flirtatious bits as a way of saying how sorry I am for how extremely long I made you all wait for this. The muse is picking up again so this story should hit full speed again soon!
Olivia watched as her father paced the room, putting on his coat and tucking a revolver into one of the pockets. "Those good for nothing robots," Gray muttered, checking himself to make sure he had everything. "Can't do anything right. I have to go down there and kill them myself if I want it done."
"Well you could always release the prototypes," Olivia suggested, her eyes sparkling with interest at the idea of releasing the two robots.
"If we don't have to, I don't want to yet. But just in case, stay up here and prepare to release them. If I don't return in an hour, activate them. You remember how to, right Olivia?"
She nodded. "Yes daddy."
Gray pulled on a pair of gloves. It was snowing outside, and if he had to chase the mercenaries all the way out into the open - so be it.
The old man pushed his way out of the small room. Around him the offline robots were beginning to start up again. He scowled, knowing mercenaries had been in his office.
…
"We have three minutes to get out of the factory. After that, all robots will be online again," Makina warned. He and Horst had finally managed to get out of the closet, taking advantage of what little time they had while the robots were temporarily deactivated.
If they had the time, they'd have destroyed every single bot along the way - but there was no time whatsoever. Three minutes was all they had. With Makina leading, the two of them weaved their way down halls and through offline swarms of robots that would have killed them had they been active.
"Vhat's zhe fastest vay out?" Horst asked.
"Fastest? Blow a hole through the walls. But you don't have a rocket launcher right?" Makina stared disdainfully at Horst's empty hands. "I didn't think so. Front door it is. By the way, you don't happen to have a car right?"
"Does it look like I drove here? If anyzhing, Herr Spy probably has a car. If ve can find him and he's not dead by now, you can ask him."
They made a beeline straight for the front door, shoving aside robots on the way out. The door was already in sight, and they made a last run for it, bursting out into the snowy outside.
"Can you contact zhe ozhers? Zhey should know we're okay," Horst said. He doubled over, catching his breath. "I'm getting too old for zhis," he muttered to himself.
Making walked ahead, sending Medibot a message. He could activate his tracking beacon, but it would also alert pretty much all other robots to his position. He let the message send, the words before his eyes blinking away.
"If anything, we should get away from her as fast as possible. We'll head into the city and have the others catch up with us. No point staying around here." The robot began to walk, leaving Horst to catch up.
The Medic noticed the flat, rectangular footprints left in the snow by the robot, a small idea forming. He began to pace up and down in front of the factory, going rounds, forward and back. Making looked back to see if he was following, stopping when he realised he was not.
Making stared. "What… are you doing?"
Horst continued to pace up and down, finally stopping and admiring his work. He wasn't very much of an artist, but he was proud of the questionable design imprinted into the snow. Marina's eyes traced the design, before he realised what it was.
"You are such a child," the robot commented, unimpressed by the giant penis stomped into the snow that pointed at the factory. Horst snorted.
"I like to haff my fun. Now let's go."
They began to walk, Horst occasionally glancing back at his work of art and stifling laughs. They didn't get too far before someone called out to them. Looking back, Spy, Demoman, Pyro, Heavy, Engineer and Medibot were catching up.
"Jesus fuck, you guys are okay." None of them looked like they were faring too well. Scratches, bruises, and dried blood stained their bodies, and they didn't seem to have slept in at least two days.
"Ja, we're fine. At least you all are- vait. Vhere's Scout?" Horst was fast to pick up on the scrapper's missing presence. It was… too quiet. Spy almost immediately flipped up his hood and looked away.
The doctor's shoulders slumped. "I'll miss him," was all he could say without having Spy flare up at him. Medibot just stared at the white ground, still feeling a bit guilty for not being able to have saved the BLU.
Making stared at the group for a bit, before he turned away and kept walking towards the small town he knew was nearby. "We can be sad later. Gray's still hunting us down so we can't stay in one place too long. There's a town nearby where we can hide for now. At least he can't launch a full-on assault on us there and it'll buy us a little more time."
While everyone walked on, Heavy lagged behind with Spy, who seemed more than content to shove his hands in his pockets and keep staring at the ground as he walked, hood shading most of his facial features. For a moment Spy was either unaware of or ignoring the Russian's presence.
"Scout is good man," the BLU said, keeping his eyes fixed on the group of mercenaries walking ahead. Spy kept himself staring at the ground. "I hear from Engineer that he is not as loud as RED Scout."
Spy let out a small chuckle. "He was always a quiet boy. Never really grew out of it, non?"
Heavy nodded. "He spend evenings writing in book. Do not know what he write, but he write. Every day, before dinner, he write something. Some days he write before sleeping, some days he fall asleep while writing. When we get back to base, I give you book."
The assassin raised his head a little. For a moment he watched the mercenaries in front of him, dragging their tired feet, then his head dropped again. "Merci, Heavy. I… I appreciate it."
"Is no problem. You are blood related, you deserve to keep book."
Spy frowned, suddenly remembering he had never mentioned his relation to the Scout to Heavy. "How do you…?"
"Pyro guess. Then he tell me when I ask. Is not big secret, yes? If it is, Heavy will pretend to not know." He gave the smaller man a genuine smile, to which Spy felt a little warmed by.
"It's fine. No harm done. But if you tell anyone else, I will have to kill you. Oui?"
Heavy laughed. "As if you do not already kill me, Spy. Every day on battlefield, you always look for me and Doktor."
They managed to catch up with the group ahead of them as they slowed, entering the town. It was a decent place with people. Nothing fantastic, but it was something. Axel yawned. "If anything, can we just like, bunk somewhere? I'm dead tired."
"If ye were dead boyo, ye'd be dead," Demoman said, nudging the Pyro. "But I gotta agree with the lad, I need sleep." It was far past midnight already, the mercenaries all sporting dark eye circles, and the robots starting to run low on battery power. It was a silent mutual agreement that they would find somewhere to sleep.
It didn't take them ten minutes to find a small inn in a town that small. Outside it was a sign hanging, inviting people to come in and stay a night at cheap rates. Spy, having stolen a wallet from an oblivious drunk outside on the street, had a little more than enough to pay for all of them, tipping the pretty hostess as well.
While everyone filed upstairs to their rooms, Spy folded the brown faux leather wallet close and tucked it into his suit jacket. He lingered by the counter with the hostess, who eyed everyone else in the room with the two of them.
Spy pulled out a cigarette and lit it, clipping the cigarette between his thin lips. "You know, madame, I am curious as to why you did not question seven rumpled men and two robots coming into your little inn," he said, tapping off the ash at the end of the cigarette into the glass cigarette tray on the counter.
The brunette smiled, her eyes looking brighter than any of the mercenaries, despite the late hour. "Oh believe me, I've had weirder. Town like this attracts all the weirdos like mosquitos to a light. So what brings you here? You don't seem like a local." Spy made a note of the drunk at the back table.
He took a puff of the cigarette, enjoying how it warmed him. "I work around the area."
"Oh? And what kind of work? I can't think of many jobs that would warrant wearing a… ski mask."
"I'm in the excavation and demolitions line. Small accident resulted in this," Spy said simply. It was the same lie he told everyone who didn't know better. It made them stop asking questions.
"Oh… oh I'm so sorry. I… probably shouldn't disturb you anymore. Sorry," she apologised, quickly busying herself with clearing off the drunk man's drinks. Spy watched her for a bit more, before he turned to the stairs.
He quickly made for his room, which he found himself to be sharing with Engineer and Pyro. Axel was drying his matted hair with a towel. Spy made note of the tattoos that marked his left arm.
"Where's Engineer?" He asked, taking off his suit jacket and hanging it up on an empty hanger in the cupboard.
Axel gestured to the bathroom, which was closed and locked. "Bathroom." The Pyro was out of his suit, having left it on the chair. He was just in his inner clothes, which comprised of a simple red shirt and shorts. "Doc and Heavy went out to buy us all new clothes. I told them to get you a hoodie and jeans."
Spy scowled. "You did not tell them that." While he agreed that it was a good idea to get new clothes, he was not wearing… a hoodie and jeans.
Axel laughed, falling back onto the bed with a snort. "I'm kidding, but you should have seen the look on your face. Nah, I told them to get you a suit. I don't think they have something in red though, so I said black was the next best option."
Spy relaxed a bit. "Wait, they don't have money."
"Money? Man, if you even seen how many drunks are passed out on the street? They can literally pick up three wallets and have enough money to last a week." The Pyro stretched out on the bed, all his muscles relaxing.
Spy began to loosen his tie, hanging it all with his suit. He was just getting to unbuttoning his undershirt to take a bath when the door of the room knocked.
"Who's that?" He called out, tempted to take his revolver to the door with him. It never hurt to be cautious.
"Room service!" It sounded like the lady from the counter downstairs. To be safe, Spy took the gun with him nonetheless, keeping it in his hand behind the door in case he needed it. Axel sat up in bed, staring at the door.
Cautiously, the Frenchman opened the door, greeted by the brunette. She quickly glanced around the room past him, as if she was checking something, before she slipped a phone into his hand. "She said to call her," the woman said, before she retreated back out. leaving Spy standing there.
He didn't stop her from going. Looking at the black phone in his hand, he closed the door and went back into the room, where Axel stared at him with one raised eyebrow, the only noise from the shower.
"Uh… who was that? Room service? You don't seem like the kind to ask for room service," Axel commented, his eyes flicking to the phone.
"Call… her?" Spy muttered. He sat down on the edge of the bed, opening the phone. On the screen was a number, already typed in. Spy was one for remembering contact numbers. He didn't like writing anything down if he didn't have to. The less things he had on paper, the less likely he would accidentally leaving some important information behind - not that it ever happened, of course. The number of the screen however, was not something he recognised.
Axel peeked at the screen over the Frenchman's shoulder, making the slimmer man shy away. "Do you mind…?" He scowled. Axel retreated from his personal space.
In his mind Spy ran through all the possibilities calling the number on the screen could bring. It could be an ally, it could be an activator for something, it could be someone trying to track their locations. As he clicked the call button, Heavy and Horst marched in with clothes.
"As promised, a suit for Herr Spy, overalls and work pants for Herr Engineer, and jeans and a hoodie for Herr Pyro," Horst announced, dumping down three bags of clothes by the foot of the bed. He noticed Spy on the phone, still waiting in silence for whoever to pick up. He gave the two of them a nod, before retreating out of the room.
Axel got off the bed to pass Engineer the clothes, while Spy waited, a frown forming on his brow.
Finally, someone picked up.
Spy waited in silence for the other person to speak, so he could try to identify the voice. "Spy?"
He froze. Miss Pauling. "Miss Pauling?"
"Oh thank God. Okay, okay. How many of you are alive?" Miss Pauling asked. She sounded distressed, like something had gone very wrong. It made him a little concerned.
"All of us, except Scout. Miss Pauling, are you okay?" Spy asked in return. If she was not, he was out of here.
Miss Pauling took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. "A lot has happened since you left. Gray took the opportunity to attack the base, with so many of you gone. The Administrator disappeared, all the other mercenaries are dead and… it's just chaos. I need you and the others to return to Teufort as soon as possible. It won't be long before Gray realises I'm still alive and hunts me down. Come back now."
As she rattled on and on, Spy found himself losing track of her words. He shook his head, trying to clear his head and focus. He could almost see it. Both bases crumbled, on fire, dead mercenaries lying on the ground in a pool of their own blood, their limbs bent at all the wrong angles and snapped off, robots swarming the bases and tearing apart anything in their way, and a terrified Miss Pauling hiding out somewhere.
"Spy?" Miss Pauling called, afraid that he had cut off.
"I'm here. Okay, how much time do you have, approximately?" He had to focus now.
"I… I honestly don't know. Less than 24 hours, give or take. Just come back now. I have to go." Spy didn't get another word in before Miss Pauling hung up. He stared at the phone with wide eyes, but didn't try to call her again.
Engineer had come out of the bath, fitted in his new clothes. "It's comfortable, but it don't feel the same as my work clothes. Ah hell. Spy, the hell you looking so ghostly for?" He was unaware of his conversation with Miss Pauling.
He frowned, quickly pulling the new clothes out of the bag. If anything, he at least wanted to change into something newer. "Miss Pauling called. She's in trouble, everyone back at the base is dead. She wants us back there as soon as possible, which means we're leaving now. He quickly threw on the new undershirt, tying his tie as Engineer stared at him dumbly.
"Well if we gotta go, we gotta go. Gray doesn't just get to fuck around with Mann Co like that," Axel hissed. He put on the grey hoodie, rolling up the sleeves. "Get the others, we're out of here. Engie, go steal a car or something."
"And just how do you expect me to do that boy?" Engineer asked, still not quite wanting to believe the situation.
"I don't know, hot wire it! You're an engineer!" He took a moment in the bathroom to change into the jeans, before he was out of the door, banging on the doors of the other rooms.
He barged right into Heavy, Horst's room, where the Medic was already drifting off to sleep while Heavy read a book he'd found on the nightstand. Heavy frowned as Horst stirred, rolling over onto his side.
"Get up. We have to go now," Axel said, crossing the room to Horst's bed and shaking the Medic awake. "Hey Doc, get up. We're going."
"…Huh?" Horst slowly blinked open his eyes, irritated with having been woken up from his well deserved sleep. "Zhis better be good Herr, I haff half a mind to stab you right now," he hissed, rubbing his eyes.
Heavy nodded. "Da. What is so important that we must leave now?"
"Miss Pauling called, and she's basically in lots of trouble. Our bases got destroyed. By Gray, and his bastard bots. Now if that's not enough to get you going, I don't know what it." Axel left them to slowly register what he'd said as he went to wake Demoman - who hopefully had not passed out - up.
The words took a moment to click with Horst, but when they finally did, he was out of bed without complaint. By the time he was dressed and out of the door, Makina and Medibot had managed to drag a sleeping Demoman out of the room, and the rest were downstairs.
"Leaving so soon?" The brunette asked, as the men and robots filed out of the door. Spy hung behind to answer her question.
"Unfortunately, our boss decided to call off our break early. Thank you, for passing me that phone." He had deleted all chat logs and factory wiped the phone to it's original state, and now he handed it back to her. She stared at it.
"I would have liked to get to know you," she said, her hand lingering on his. Spy look at her slender hand for a moment, before he raised it to his lips to lightly kiss it, like every French gentleman would do.
He released her hand. "I would have liked it too, but as it is I must go. Oh, wait." He noticed a set of car keys sitting on a purse that looked like it would have belonged to her. "By any chance do you have a car?"
She looked down at the silver keys. "Yes… why?"
"Can I borrow it?"
Axel stared at the closed inn door. "What the hell is taking Spy so damn long? And here he was the one to tell us we had to go now." The mercenaries had been standing outside, ready to go when they had realised the assassin wasn't with them.
A white car pulled up alongside the road, the door opening. Spy was inside. "Sorry, I was trying to get us a ride. Get in."
The mercenaries filed in, cramming into the small car that should not have had to hold seven passengers, two of which were robots. It was an uncomfortable squeeze at the back, and Makina had resorted to lying in the boot while Heavy sat up front with Spy to free up room in the back.
Spy started up the car, taking it off down the road. He'd promised to return it to the lady some time around next week. He probably would just buy her a new car if he had to, seeing as how this one was driving right to hell.
