A/N: I AM ALIIIIIIVE.

Come morning Engineer found himself waking up early, for a moment forgetting where he was. He sat up sharply, eyes darting around the room, before remembering they had moved down to Mountainlab to hide and prepare. He let out a yawn, rubbing an eye. Everyone else seemed to still be asleep, the two robots included - if what they were doing could be considered sleeping.

He stared at the two of them for a bit, considering if he should wake Medibot up and get the robot blueprints so he could get to work. When another yawn escaped him, he flopped back down onto the bench he had been lying on. Work could wait a little longer. If he woke anyone up, they'd probably punch him for depriving them of their well deserved sleep. it seemed everyone was finally sleeping well enough for once.

Well, everyone but Spy. The assassin was a light sleeper, and had woken up just before dawn. Now he stood outside in the cool, crisp morning air, smoking a cigarette as he watched the sun slowly peek over the horizon, painting the forest base in a wash of warm yellow. There was really no reason for him to be out here, but seeing as how the inside of the base was too stuffy for his liking he had gone outside for a smoke.

The air was cool with a light breeze carrying loose dust and leaves still wet with rain from the night before. Shining drops of rainwater remained on the waxy leaves in round droplets. He was a little more comfortable now, as compared to last night, now that he was dressed in a dry suit and had a decent amount of sleep. Of course, it didn't meant his worries were gone, no. If anything, he was chain smoking because now that he had had enough sleep, his head was clear enough to thinking about each and every one of his problems.

He took a deep drag of his cigarette, letting the smoke warm him. He made a mental list of everything that was a problem at the moment. Scout's death. Gray's plans. The fact that they were stranded in an almost-empty base, and hardly had enough weapons and ammunition to take down a growing army of robots. And he was running out of cigarettes.

The horror.

Closing back the silver case in his hand to keep himself from using the rest of his precious cigarettes, he tried to make the one he had last. Now that the sun was high enough to cast a warm light on the whole of the forest, he began to make his way back into the base, where everyone was still, unsurprisingly, sleeping.

He stared at them in disdain, before nudging Engineer awake. "Don't you have work to do?" He asked, staring at the smaller man.

Engineer sat up, waving Spy off. "Yeah yeah, I'm up. Just cause ya don't sleep in doesn't mean others don't either," he muttered. Spy was tempted to retaliate, but decided on keeping his mouth shut. Already he was for the most part sour about everything that had happened lately. He didn't need one more unnecessary problem piled on his plate.

Everyone else would get the luxury of sleeping in a little longer, since no one else had anything to work on in particular. Spy retreated, disappearing out into the outskirts of the base.

Engineer stood in front of the two offline bots, wondering how he was going to activate them. He leaned down, giving Medibot a small poke. When there was no response from the robot, he felt around for a switch of some kind, pulling open a panel in the robot's back. There he found only one switch, and experimentally flicked it.

As Medibot came to life, Engineer watched in satisfaction at having found out how to turn on the robot. The automated Medic stared straight ahead as he started up, only moving to stare at Engineer when he was fully booted. "Yes Herr Engineer?"

"Spy wants us to get to work. Ya got the blueprints?"

"Oh yes. I spent the night downloading zhem. Vhere do you want to vork?"

The Texan looked around, realising that here he never had a proper workshop. "Well, there ain't no workshop here, so I guess just anywhere with enough space will do. Maybe just… well there's a space upstairs. Guess we could use that."

Medibot nodded, gesturing for the RED to lead the way. As they walked, Medibot prepared the blueprints he had downloaded, making system checks to ensure his projector was still functional.

The space upstairs was just a small room that led to a little sniper ledge outside. It wasn't the most inconspicuous nor the most well hidden area, but it was good enough for work. After all, they weren't expecting anyone to come interrupt them. Engineer pulled aside a bench. Today was just for studying schematics and sketching blueprints. Only once the design was finalised, would he request for some bots to be captured to be used.

Medibot projected the schematics he had onto a blank wall, hoping Engineer could see it well enough.

Without any proper paper for schematics, Engineer had to make do with what he had. Dang, now he wished he had considered setting up a workshop here, or at least stored some tools and items in his locker or something. With nothing but a pencil, he stared around the room. The cupboards that lined the grading walls looked light enough to push, so he began to move them around, leaving one whole wall empty, say for the vent that sat right above. Oh well, it wasn't like he was tall enough to use the space up there anyway.

He began to sketch on the wall, making rough notes by the sides in handwriting that was only legible to himself, studying the blueprints with care. If he worked hard enough, he could have a final prototype done by the end of the week.

"So… zhis plan, do you honestly zhink it vill vork? I mean, I don't have anozher plan and all but… I can't help but doubt zhis one," Medibot mused.

Engineer didn't let his eyes leave the rough sketches on the wall. "I'm pretty sure we're all doubting this plan one way or another, but what else we got? We just make do, I suppose. Besides, if we die then we'll at least have put up a damn good fight and Gray knows that. And," his eyes momentarily fell away to the floor, "if the Administrator is still alive, then somehow she'll find another group of mercenaries to fight."

"I wish I shared your sense of determination in zhis situation, Herr Engineer, I really do. But I honestly feel like we're all walking to out deaths, unless by some miracle one of your friends manages to find a supply of weapons somevhere. Just a thought though, isn't Saxton Hale your… boss?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Doesn't he have a whole weapons factory somewhere? Surely zhe weapons you use must have been manufactured… somewhere."

Engineer continued to draw on the wall, taking a moment to ponder of the robot's words. "So, you're suggesting we go there?"

"It's an idea."

The thought of having a factory full of brand new weapons - some prototypes even - was certainly one Engineer could hook on to. Only problem was getting there. No one knew where it was, and unless by some heavenly blessing, they could spend a good amount of time looking for the place.

"Hey Engineer?" Miss Pauling called from the floor below. "We're going out to hunt for something to eat, okay? We'll be back in an hour or so!" Her voice faded away, giving Engineer an idea.

Miss Pauling was a Mann Co associate - and a very close one at that. She probably knew where the factory was. He continued to scribble on the wall. When she got back, he could ask her about it.

Miss Pauling had taken Makina, Axel and Spy out to get food. There wasn't much but birds and the occasional rabbit around, but if they wanted to get by, that was what they were going to have to do with.

The three word mercenaries (and their equally as tough manager) now prowled through the nearby forest. Unfortunately, the only weapons they had were guns, and Axel's flaming hands, so they had to work fast. Once a single bullet was shot, everything else was sure to flee. Axel was silently glad for Makina's un-humanlike reflexes, which gave him a good advantage in shooting down birds as they were flying off.

Miss Pauling still felt slightly uncomfortable in the presence of the robot, who exhibited scarily human behaviour and emotion. Never in her life had she ever come across a robot like him and Medibot, and to be suddenly thrown into having to work with one was quite a shock to her. Of course, being the professional lady she was, she managed to keep her cool around him.

Spy had cloaked and wandered ahead with nothing but a knife in hand. If anything, he could probably kill a couple of rabbits without alerting anything else. That was, if he could even find a rabbit. The shallow forest seemed voice of pretty much any wildlife. If that was so, it seemed the group would have to move elsewhere as soon as possible, before anyone starved to death. It wouldn't really matter if anyone died her, with respawn to catch them, but it would be a great inconvenience in moving on with their plans.

There was something about the forest that made Makina feel pretty good. He would have said it was a Sniper's thing, but he remembered he was not a human sniper. He did not have the experiences of one, which he guessed was sometimes just prowling the woods on a hunt. Axel had told him stories of the RED Sniper, and what he'd do. Hunting deers was apparently one of them.

The trees whistled with birds too small to be worth a meal, the little creatures staring down carefully at the people below. A couple of them took flight as something shifted behind the trees, and Axel couldn't have been more glad to see a deer. A little guilt plagued him as he stared at the deer's innocent eyes. It didn't seem to notice the three- no, two of them, now that Miss Pauling had left to find smaller game.

Whatever little wind there was blew against the two mercenaries, keeping the deer unaware of them. It continued to graze, turning its back to them. Makina pulled the rifle from his back, lifting the scratched scope up to his eye. He waited patiently for the deer to lift its head up. Where possible, he wanted a nice, clean shot.

Axel, on the other hand, wasn't so patient. "The hell are we waiting for, it's right there," he hissed.

"Patience. I'm trying to get a clean shot."

"If you ask me, it's standing still. Your shot can't get any cleaner than a target that doesn't fucking move."

"I'm not even asking you anyth-"

They got a little too loud, and the deer's head shot up. It turned around to stare at them, eyes wide. For a split second none of them moved, before the deer was off. Makina scrambled to line up his shot. The bullet caught in its rear, but it only stumbled a bit before continuing to run from its attackers.

The two mercenaries began to give chase, stopping short when they found the deer posed awkwardly. Its head was slightly tilted up and it seemed to be struggling against something. Slowly, it sank to the ground, twitching a little, and Spy uncloaked, pulling his knife out of the deer's throat.

"Okay now that's just violent," Axel commented, staring at the dead deer.

Spy shrugged, wiping the blood on a leaf and tucking it back into his jacket. "Food is food. If you don't like it, you can just not eat it."

"Look, you can't even cook that without me and I'd like to see you ear raw deer." The two of them walked off arguing, leaving Makina to haul the deer back. The robot stared at it for awhile, before grabbing it by the legs and pulling it with him.

By the time the robot got back Miss Pauling and the rest had returned, the former carrying with her a decent sized rabbit. "It was a lucky kill, but at this point, anything's just pure luck already," she sighed, flopping the rabbit down on a makeshift table. She stared at the deer Makina brought in. "Well, now I've never in my life been more relieved to see a dead deer… that sounded odd."

Horst, Demoman and Heavy joined them, Engineer still sketching on the walls upstairs. Heavy began to expertly strip the rabbit's fur off. "Not to be rude, Heavy, but vhere did you learn to do zhat?" Horst asked, watching him cleverly strip the fur off the rabbit with nothing but a knife that looked all too small in his hands.

Heavy chuckled a little. "In Russia, I stripped bears for dinner. Is only matter of time before these things become natural. Is easy now, after practice. Doktor want to try?" He extended the half-furry rabbit to the doctor, making him shy away a little.

"Ahah, nein, danke. I'm a little too fond of animals to… want to do that." He pulled his eyes away from the rabbit, finding himself looking at Axel standing and getting ready to chop up the deer with his axe. The Pyro became aware of the stares he was getting, raising an eyebrow.

"Queasy, doc?" Axel teased, positioning the axe. Horst narrowed his eyes a little. Back in the days of BLU being a whole, Sniper would chop live chickens bought from the nearby town with a farm. He'd hear their terrified screeching from his office, but had never actually seen it happen, so he ate without guilt. But now looking at Axel cutting the deer apart with a bloodstained axe… yeah, he was feeling pretty queasy about it.

He got up to excuse himself from the room for a bit. If he was going to eat the deer, he would rather not watch Axel tear it to bits. The doctor headed up to Engineer's makeshift workspace, where he found the tinkerer and his impromptu projector.

The pale walls were filling up with drawing after drawing, barely legible handwriting by sketches, frustrated scribbles blacking out certain words and sketches. The pencil in Engineer's hand was pretty short now, with rough pencil shavings all over the floor and a knife on the bench. The sketches only reached up to a certain height on the wall, which, to a tall man like Horst, wasn't that high at all.

"Do you mind if I join you?" Horst asked. He took Engineer's grunt as an okay for him to come in, offering Medibot a nod of greeting.

It wasn't two minutes of the doctor being in the room that Engineer frustratedly stepped away from the wall, rubbing his hands across his face. "Darnit darnit darnit…" He muttered.

"Are you okay?" Horst asked, taking a sweeping glance at the many sketches on the wall again.

Engineer sat down on the bench, looking at the projected blueprints. "I'm alright, but this is a lot more difficult than I expected. Without actually having a robot in my hands to tinker with and the proper tools. It's still possible, to get something that works… but it's gonna take a lot more time at the rate this is goin'." He paused for a while to wipe at his face again. "Say Doc, you know where the Mann Co weaponry is by any chance?"

Horst was a little surprised by the question, for some reason he couldn't seen to place. "Uh, no? Vhy asking?"

"Darn… okay, never mind. I'll explain later when Miss Paulin's around so I don't gotta say it twice."

The smell of roasted meat had the two mercenaries leaving the makeshift workshop an hour later, where they found the team sitting around roasted deer. It had been cut up to the point where now cooked, they couldn't even tell it was deer. The rabbit had also been cooked alongside the deer.

"It ain't as good as me ma's cookin'," Demoman complained as he took a bit into the plain deer.

"I'm surprised you even know what taste is," Spy shot back nonchalantly, elegantly tearing the meat in his hands into thinner shreds before eating. Miss Pauling, next to him, was just devouring the meat like she hadn't eaten in a few days. Then again… she probably hadn't had much to begin with.

The team lapsed into silence for awhile as they all ate, mostly trying to swallow the bland meat. The two robots idled in silence in a corner, away from the team. Engineer waited until Miss Pauling seemed content enough before he raised his nagging question.

"Miss Pauling?"

The woman looked up from her share of meat, her face reminding Engineer something of a cat guarding its prey. "Mm?"

"Any chance ya know where the Mann Co weapons factory is?" The rest of the team stared at him for a moment, waiting for the link between the question and his unknown intention to click.

"Yes I do, why?" The idea suddenly hit her. "Oh… if you were thinking of going there well… it's not as easy as just walking right in, you know. There's a lot of security to pass through, and only Saxton Hale can get past them. Without him it's basically impossible to get in, and no one knows where he went."

Everyone returned to eating, dismissing the idea as one that wouldn't work. But Engineer persisted. "I don't mean to be rude, Miss Pauling but, you do realise we're the world's deadliest men right? If anything I'm sure we can break in… somehow."

"Mm, and that somehow is?" Axel asked.

"Boy, you're lookin' at a man with eleven PHDs, and you yourself can shoot fire from your own hands, and you're sayin' ya can't break open a door?"

"Oh, it's not just a door. It's a lot more than that - what do you think Saxton Hale spends his money on?" Miss Pauling asked.

"Well, I-"

"But you're right. You guys are the world's deadliest men, which mean there is a way… even if it means blowing a hole through a wall to get in. Side note, we're not doing that." An elated grin fell away from Demoman's face and he returned to darkly eating the deer, muttering something about how 'explosives were always a solution'. "We can figure it all out when we get there, but the problem is getting there. It's not here in the States."

"Then… vhere is it?" Horst asked.

"It's in Australia."