The drive had been oddly longer than expected. Twice they had switched drivers, so now Makina sat up in the driver's seat while Medibot had volunteered himself for the boot, where he idled. In the back of the car, all the mercenaries slept in positions of varying discomfort.

Next to him Heavy snored, to which Makina thought was extremely loud and annoying, though he did not dare wake the Russian bear. Instead he drove in silence, keeping his eyes fixed on the road that had long since turned into a mere trail of dust with the occasional sprout of grass.

Initially no one had been keen to let Makina drive, since they didn't quite think he knew where Teufort was in the first place, until he admitted he'd been there more than he'd been invited to watch the mercenaries through the scope of his rifle. After switching seats, Engineer had retreated to the back of the dusty white car, where he squished himself in with the rest and went straight to sleep.

The robot drove on in silence, slowing down as the crumbled, smoking bases came into view. Some parts of it were still on fire, though the rain that beat down on the area were beginning to douse the flames.

He circled the 'borrowed' white car around the place once, twice, trying to find a place to enter. He found a small break in the fence, big enough to ram the car through. As the car jerked forward, the sleeping mercenaries woke up with a start, Spy hitting his head on the car roof.

They were fully awake as soon as they saw the chaos that was Teufort. Both bases had crumbled to the ground, loose debris, blood and oil filling the central sewage. Hardly anything was left standing, say for parts of each base, though which was which was hardly discernible, with smoke, ashes, blood and oil splattered over almost anything. Smoke rose into the dark air in plumes.

Horst felt a little relief knowing that the week before he'd left for Mannhattan he'd sent his cat Schnaps home to his wife. Slowly, the mercenaries pried themselves free from one another, tumbling out of the car and onto the wet, ashen ground.

Demoman looked around. "Ye know lads, it's a bit hard to believe that when we left only a few weeks ago this place looked nothing like this dump," he said.

Spy didn't mind his suit getting wet. "First things first, we have to find Miss Pauling. Medic, Pyro, Engineer, you come with me. The robots, Heavy and Demoman can take the BLU base." He had his revolver with him in case they ran into any robots left behind after the siege.

The mercenaries nodded, understanding what they had to do. From there, in the rain, they split up once more.

The four of them headed into the RED base, picking their way past bits of crumbled frames. All power was completely gone from the base, so Axel produced a little orb of light to help them find their way around the ruined base.

They kept their ears sharp for any sounds that could signal Miss Pauling's presence, though the only sounds was rain trickling down through gaps and into the base.

"If anything, we might check the infirmary. There's probably some supplies there, and it's the most protected area," Axel suggested. Spy nodded.

"Alright, you and Medic check up there, I will go to the resupply room. We'll meet back in twenty minutes," Spy said. He nodded to the two of them and headed back towards the resupply room, where they hoped if they didn't find Miss Pauling, would at least find some supplies. That left Horst and Axel to go up to the infirmary.

The infirmary was right at the heart of the base, protected on all sides. If anything was left untouched, it should be the infirmary. Axel led the way up into the dark medbay, where they found the door already pried open by what could have been a crowbar. A simple push had the door swinging open.

Carefully, they stepped into the medbay, the little orb acting as their only guide. Something clanged ahead, catching both their attentions. With no weapons on hand, they just had to make do.

Round the corner, they found the source of the noise. Miss Pauling was rummaging through the cupboards, the frazzled woman whipping around and firing a bullet at them the second she heard them.

The bullet missed the two of them by an inch, leaving them staring at a dishevelled Miss Pauling, with a smoking pistol in her trembling hands. It took her a moment to recognise the two mercenaries, and only then did she lower her gun.

"Oh my God," she whispered, stumbling towards them. Axel hugged the small woman, quietly thankful that any stray robots hadn't gotten to her in the time they'd taken to get to the base.

"You okay, Miss P?" Axel asked, finally releasing her. She was definitely a mess, her hair all over the place, the lens of one side of her glasses broken, and her dress torn at the edges and dirty all over.

"Yes yes, I'm fine- where's your mask?" Rarely had she ever seen the Pyro without his mask, or heard him speak clearly, though she recognised him immediately. Faces were hard to forget for her.

Axel looked away. "I uh… Gray took it. I still have this though," he said, showing her the white horned mask clipped to his belt. She sighed.

"And the rest? Are they okay?"

"Zhey vent to other parts of zhe area to look for you. Vhat happened, exactly?" Horst asked.

Miss Pauling swallowed hard, ignoring the fact that she was thirsty. "Apparently Gray never cared about any of you. He made it seem like he was throwing his toughest bots at us so we'd send our strongest mercenaries to fight him, which essentially left everywhere else vulnerable. I'm not saying the other mercenaries aren't tough… but with half of the mercenaries gone… it's hard to defend the entire place. While all of you were gone, he sent more bots here to attack."

"So… what does he want? I mean if he's not interested in us anymore then what is he going after? I thought he just wanted Mann Co gone but at this rate it doesn't seem like it anymore."

Miss Pauling sighed, making herself seem smaller than she ever had before. She took a breather, regaining whatever composure she had left, even in her messy hair and tattered clothing.

"I'm not entirely sure. You can only get so much information from a bunch of robots storming the area. But my guess is that he's looking to gain full control of Mann Co. It's a powerful company. More so than the rest of the munitions companies out there."

The three of them looked at each other for a bit, before deciding to get out instead of standing around in the dirty base. "Let's talk elsewhere. Axel, call zhe rest out," Horst ordered. The Pyro nodded and disappeared from sight, while the doctor led Miss Pauling out of the base.

The rain had hardly lightened up, large, fat droplets of water pattering down and damping out whatever little embers were left lit up. It looked like the apocalypse had just come through, with all the buildings blackened and crumbled and the sky almost as dark.

As soon as they stepped out into the open, they were drenched. Engineer and Spy had joined them in the rain as Axel ventured over to the opposite base to find the rest, leaving rippling puddles where he stepped. Engineer tipped his helmet to Miss Pauling, who was getting very much soaked, her hair dripping and her clothes plastered against her cold, slim body.

"Glad you're alright, Miss P," The Texan said.

Miss Pauling offered him a small but genuine smile through the strands of hair against her face. "Thank you Engineer. It's good to see you're fine too, after all that." She looked up at a few more figures coming through the rain, initially tense that it was robots. When she managed to make out Heavy and Demoman, she relaxed her shoulders and let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding.

The two mercenaries were about to greet her when lightning struck overhead, leaving a momentary flash of extreme white, thunder following suit. It drowned out anything anyone said. Demoman looked up at the sky.

"Aye, we should probably leave before someone gets struck by lightning," Demoman commented. They all glanced back at the small white car, dirtied and marred. "Eh… we're not fitting back in that thing."

Miss Pauling's attention was caught by two little blue lights coming towards the group - no, make that two pairs of blue lights. She squinted, trying to get a better look. As the figures got nearer, they revealed themselves to be robots. Immediately she gasped, taking a step back and drawing her pistol.

"No, wait!" Axel was right behind the robots. "They're friendly."

Miss Pauling couldn't have been more bewildered. She kept her pistol raised initially, staring in disbelief at Axel and the two robots, who seemed pretty tame. They stared back with their cold, unblinking eyes, before the Sniperbot finally huffed. "If you're not going to shoot us, put the gun down."

Slowly and uncertainly, Miss Pauling did as she was told. How- how was a robot this sentient? Was it a trick? A prototype? Were the mercenaries actually robot Spies? Horst grabbed her by the shoulders, steering her towards the dirty white car as she tried to comprehend the robots.

"We are not fitting all in there again," Spy hissed after him, staying where he was despite his suit being entirely soaked.

Before Miss Pauling could get into the car, she remembered seeing Engineer's truck still there. "I think Engineer's truck is still working. It doesn't look greatly damaged or anything. You could try that. It's around the back of RED."

Engineer's hidden eyes lit up at the thought of his precious truck having been saved from destruction. Immediately the Texan was off, looking for the vehicle, while the rest waited around in the rain.

Miss Pauling fit in the back of the white car with Heavy, with Horst and Spy up front. The rest would have to take the truck, if Engineer found it. Sure enough, he came around with the old thing in no more than ten minutes. He rolled down the window, beckoning for the rest to get into the back. "Sorry it ain't no first class car or nothin', and it's runnin' low on gas but it'll take us far enough- er, where exactly are we going?"

"Another base? One that hasn't been overrun by bots already?" Medibot suggested, "I mean, ve vill need supplies and all of you new clothing - ve are not running headfirst into Gray like zhis." He gestured to himself, droplets of water running off his smooth metal surface and dripping onto the floor of the truck where a puddle was slowly forming.

Engineer stuck his head out of the window and waved at the car. He waited for the windows to roll down before speaking. "Hey Miss Pauling, any idea if there's a nearby base that hasn't been overrun?"

The woman in purple sank in her chair. If Gray was anything smart - and he was - he would have destroyed everything. But he had a plan to follow, and to clear off every single base that belonged to Mann Co would take too much time and too much manpower. Or robot power, rather.

"We can try Mountainlab. It's not too far, just two hours south of here. It's a small place so there isn't much, but hopefully Gray hasn't rolled over the place with a steamroller." She seemed to be trying to convince herself that something was still standing, but by the look on her usually professional face, it wasn't exactly working.

Horst looked back at her sad, defeated face. "Well, it's worth a shot ja? Even if there aren't supplies, at least we'll have somewhere to stay for now." Miss Pauling simply nodded, having no objections. As the car drove, she fell asleep in the back, lulled by the rocking of the car.

The two cars drove towards the southern base, located in the midst of a thin forest, surrounded by just enough trees to hide the place from anyone wandering by - not that any smart man would come by the place. It came with relief when they found the base to still be standing, untouched by Gray's vicious robot army.

Miss Pauling woke up as the car stopped by the BLU base. Due to the nature of the wars that took place here, the RED base was a little more stocked, but it was hard to drive all the way in. They'd have to make do with walking. The secretary stepped out of the car, a little hope making its way back into her as she saw the undamaged base. "Perfect, this is really good. It's not stocked or anything since well, we didn't plan for any shifts to this base any time soon, but it should have the basics. We can even turn respond back on so if anything comes through here, at least we'll have that safety net."

They made their way into the deeper base, well sheltered and less run-down than BLU's. Engineer made his way to turn on the electricity and respawn, while the rest settled down.

"Okay, I'll be honest here. I've never felt more relieved to be in RED's base," Horst commented, nudging Axel. The Pyro smirked in return.

"Yeah, probably because all our bases are way better than yours. It's a fact." He got to pulling off his wet suit, tossing it aside. "I should have a spare somewhere…" He began to dig through the resupply locker, in hopes of finding another uniform. Engineer returned, a satisfied smile on his lips.

"Well, respawn's all up and runnin' real nice, so we can relax for a bit. Course that don't mean we can forget our problem. Gray's still runnin' about out there waiting for us to show our faces again." The Texan took a seat on the table, putting his hands on his knees. "We need an actual plan this time."

"What we need isn't a plan first. It's firepower. You can have as good a plan as you can think of, but if you don't have weapons, you can't stop him. Ray's manufactured hundreds of thousand of robots. He's not afraid to lose a few. Unless you can somehow find him and take him down, firepower is number one. Oh, and I should mention his daughter, Olivia. She's just as insane, and if her father dies, she'll just finish what he started." Makina stared at all of them from his position up against a wall, leaning on one shoulder with his arms crossed. "So where are you going to get enough guns to take down a few hundred thousand robots?"

Spy smirked, tapping his finger thoughtfully against his chin. "We don't need to kill them. We just have to turn them against us. You, robot. Do you have access to a motherboard that all robots are uplinked to?"

"I don't, but Doc probably does. Medibots are alerted to any robot who sends out a 'Medic required' system and are able to pinpoint the location of the robot who sent it out. So if anything, he's probably got an uplink to a motherboard."

Medibot stared at Spy, who thoughtfully looked him up and down. "But can he control other bots?"

Makina shook his head. "Only Gray can control robots. With access to a motherboard, the most you can do is scramble signals."

"Hm. Scramble signals…" Spy took out his sapper, staring at it. "Scramble signals…" Engineer seemed to catch on, his eyes flicking between the sapper and Medibot.

"Y'know, I could always somehow integrate a sapper's functions into a robot. Basically make it a walking sapper. Can't quite figure out how I'd do it, but I bet I could. Just need a little time to figure it out is all," he offered.

"And if zhe Medibot has a sapper's functionality installed… he can scramble and shut down ozher robots," Horst finished. "I like it. It actually sounds possible."

"But sapper is not big enough to stop thousands of bots. One tiny sapper only, compared to giant hoard of robots. Even if whole robot becomes sapper, is still not enough," Heavy chipped in.

He was right. One robot, one mere robot, was not enough to shut down an entire hoard.

"We could always kidnap some robots, alter them, and send them back. If the bots aren't clever enough, they'd never notice, so long they don't look any different. Could work, if ye ask me," Demoman shrugged. "Of course, ye lads never ask for me opinion, because I'm always drunk."

Spy frowned. "I cannot believe I am saying this, but that's a pretty good idea. Engineer, is it possible?"

"Well if y'all got a blueprint of the bots, I sure could whip up somethin' in a few days tops."

"I can ah, download zhe blueprints and project zhem for you? I vould print zhem out but ah, I'm not a printer," Medibot offered. Engineer nodded.

"Sounds good. Alright boys, let's just get a good night's sleep, and we'll get to work tomorrow. Ain't gonna do us no good if we're all tuckered out."

The team slowly split up to find a spot to sleep, leaving the two robots and Miss Pauling to idle around. She left to take a short walk outside and collect her thoughts. She was standing in the cool evening air when Medibot joined her outside.

"Not with your friend?" Miss Pauling asked. She was not exactly one for company, feeling even weirder that she was sharing the company of a robot - Mann Co's most hated enemy.

Medibot clasped his hands together. "Ah, no. He vent to recharge. My battery lasts a lot longer zhan his. I mean, I vas specially built to last. Him… not so much."

"So what's it like, working under Gray? Certainly it feels something different, seeing as how you're… sentient."

"Same zhing as vhat I imagine your mercenaries do. Day in day out, fight vhen ve're told, go home and wait to fight anozher day. Can't be zhat much different. Gray hardly orders me around - I'm only here for Herr Makina. Zhat vas pretty much the sole purpose of my existence. To protect and take care of Herr Makina. And now zhat I've come across your mercenaries, I suppose it is also to protect zhem. And you, since I've met you."

Miss Pauling felt her cheeks warm up a little. "You're very quick to side with us, Mister…" She trained off, unsure how to address the robot.

"Ah, you can just call me Medibot. Or vhatever you please, really."

Makina had called him Doc, so she figured she'd do the same. "But why take sides with the mercenaries who have been killing your… kind, every single day?"

Medibot shrugged. "I don't know. Herr Makina's intent was just to get your captured mercenaries - Pyro and Medic - to help himself get free from Gray. I just followed along. But now zhat Gray's also out for me, vell, I don't have any other choice, do I?"

They lapsed into silence for a bit, staring out into the evening sky that was quickly turning dark. Medibot began to beep, the robot rolling back to look at himself. "Ah, I'm starting to run low on battery. I'm going back inside. Stay safe, Frau. Good night." He headed back into the base after Miss Pauling bid him a good night as well, leaving her to stand out and watch the last rays of sunlight and to think about what would happen after they defeated Gray. If they defeated Gray.