"Mission begins in ten seconds."
The REDs howled and taunted at the BLUs behind the gate, bashing at the yellow steel that separated the two teams. In return, insults were thrown at the REDs. It was a violent verbal fight in the seconds leading up to the gates opening.
Snipers on both sides felled their targets before retreating to a new hiding spot. Ubercharges were activates, rockets launched, flares shot. Backs were stabbed, heads were shot, Scouts were gunned down by strategically placed sentries. Bodies were gibbed, limbs ripped.
Makina watched all of this with a new fascination, from the window of BLU's fort. It had only been two weeks since the survivors' return to 2Fort. They had found the entire place rebuilt, dead mercenaries reanimated by hard work at saving their DNA from respawn. It had been a shame that Scout could not have been revived by the complex system.
The Administrator had initially not been keen to let the robots go and had ordered their execution, but a lot of convincing and bargaining from the mercenaries and Miss Pauling had her relenting, on the condition that neither bot was allowed onto the field during battles and were not to exchange intelligence between teams.
That was fine with him. He had no interest in assisting either team, and neither did Medibot. The other robot was housed over at RED, furthering research their Medic had started.
From his perspective, it seemed the mercenaries who had worked together previously had forgotten their past alliance, easily and brutally murdering each other. He caught Spy backstabbing Heavy with ease, Medic laughing as he stabbed Demoman to death with his Ubersaw, Pyro brutally chasing Medic down with his flamethrower, Heavy gunning down Engineer and his sentry. He also noticed the tiny nods of respect passed between them when they ran into each other on the field.
He sighed. Ever since he'd settled into Mann Co territory, Engineer had taken the time to properly upgrade him and fix him up. His loose arm was no longer loose and didn't fall off anymore, his metal polished and shining again. He didn't delete any of his old files, keeping them stored away in a folder hidden deep, deep down in his system.
Across the fort, he could just see Medibot rolling around by the window of RED's infirmary, studiously working on a project he wouldn't quite place. Medibot didn't once look up to wave, too busy with research.
Howls of delight came from below as BLU captured RED's intelligence for the third time, signalling the end of the round. The REDs turned and fled back to their base to escape humiliation, BLUs hot on their heels for that satisfying last kill. Makina turned away from the window, deciding not to be seen peering out onto the bloodied field.
He nodded to Horst as he passed on his way back to his office. The tired doctor offered a hint of a smile to the Sniperbot, retreating quickly into his office. Makina had nothing to say to him, quietly heading out of BLU and over the field to RED. The blood and gore was slowly fading away, bits and pieces cleaned up by respawn. Only a few stubborn stains remained settled in the old wood and dry ground, serving as reminders of the murder committed every day on the field.
RED mostly left him alone when he went to see Medibot, leaving him alone to roam the halls. Coming to rest at the double doors of the RED Medic's office where Medibot now worked, he knocked and patiently waited for a response before letting himself in.
Medibot was scribbling furiously at a piece of paper, rolling between that and a table full of metal bits and bobs. Engineer was there as well, tinkering with a little device. He turned around as Makina entered, delighted to see the Sniperbot.
"Ah, good zhat you are here! Herr Engineer and I vere just developing an upgrade zhat vould allow you to function at a higher level - a full range of emotions included." He rolled up to the taller robot, stopping short of a respectable distance. "If you vant, zhat is. I know zhat you've alvays vanted to feel more human, so I included all zhe emotions Herr Engineer and I could zhink of. I added some of zhe bad ones as vell, but I can always remove them if you vant."
Medibot seemed so eager to please, Makina couldn't say no. "It's awfully kind of you to have gone through all the trouble. I'll go ahead with it."
Medibot's eyes brightened up as he pulled a chair up for him. "Ve'll have to shut you down so if zhings go wrong ve can fix it."
Makina sat down without complaint, leaning his head back on the edge of the chair. There was a certain thrill to it, and he wondered what new emotions would feel like. A tingle of excitement for what the future brought buzzed at his fingertips, fading away as one by one his processes shut down, and the world went black.
A/N: That's officially the end! Please remember to follow me if you want to be notified of the sequel, and thanks for supporting!
