On any normal day, leaving Teufort or any Mann Co. territory was an extremely tedious task involving lots of back-and-forth phone calls, explanations as to why the mercenaries needed to leave, and what they were planning to do. If the Administrator reluctantly agreed, it was followed by lengthy lectures to the mercenaries on not getting themselves killed so that she didn't have to put in more work and look for suitable replacements before they were finally let loose upon the rest of the world. If she said no, then the other option to leave involved a lot of subterfuge and stealth - or hoping that whoever did get left behind knew how to cover for them.
With the Administrator missing, it was certainly no normal day, and all it took to get out of Teufort was Spy calling Miss Pauling once. He just needed to reassure her that he'd keep Pyro in check, briefly explained the appearance of the OpMercs, and that the bots were coming with them. She green-lit the whole thing in a few minutes, and they were headed out by sunset. Very little fuss, and no lengthy lectures.
The armoured van rolled steadily across the Badlands from sunset all the way until the last golden rays had disappeared behind them. As beautiful as it would have been to see the moon making its familiar journey across a sparkling sea of stars, the night wind instead brought with it a thick and heavy layer of clouds that made the world around them even darker. It was nothing pretty to see, but it did offer the van a little more cover as it got closer to the decaying ruins of Gray Industries.
With Cardshark in the driver's seat and Vanguard by his side, the three mercenaries and two bots were left in the back. Though unlike any vehicle Mann Co. owned or provided its people with, the OpMercs were clearly much better funded and it was in no way cramped or uncomfortable. There was space for the five passengers to ride comfortably without getting up in each others personal space, and room for generous crates of extra firearms, ammunition, and all the grenades one could try to fit excessively into pockets. When Doc had seen the grenade case, he silently thanked Pyro for not letting Soldier come. The two REDs had come to a head just as they were leaving, with Soldier trying to force his way into the van until Pyro almost chopped off his arm. Beyond that, the drive had been thoroughly uneventful.
Rain was hard to come by in the Badlands, and even with the heavy cloud layer hanging about, it had yet to begin pouring. Not even a light drizzle had come to fix the damage that years of blazing sun had done over the gravel pits. Instead, all the clouds did was add on to how dark the night was, and how uneasy the situation felt. There was no doubt a ripple of shared discomfort in the vehicle, even if none of the mercenaries' faces really betrayed themselves.
Over the year of living among people, Doc had become exceedingly good at reading them. The tiniest changes in their body languages or the little twitches in their eyebrows were interpreted to the Medibot as piles upon piles of data that he learned to correctly identify and interpret. Just being in the vehicle around the three mercenaries, he could tell that they were all bothered by something. Going back to the conversation they had in the afternoon, he assumed it had to do with the strange creatures they talked about. Pyro's sheer disgust at the images said it all. Spy seemed particularly bothered, the slight frown in his thin brows being an unusual change in him. As much as Doc wanted to ask, the slight hunch and tense arms loosely crossed over each other were clearly unwelcoming of a conversation.
On Spy's right was Pyro, who had fallen asleep against his BLU friend. The firebug already had his mask on and a hood pulled over his head, rendering his face completely unreadable and hidden away even with the open filter. However, the grip on the hilt of his axe was loose and his flamethrower leaned against his leg, close enough to be in reach should the situation rapidly change, but not overprotective of the weapon. He was relaxed and comfortable in the company he was around. Given their past together, Doc had learned a long time ago that Pyro was unlikely to really take anything seriously until a fight broke out, so he wasn't all too surprised to see that Pyro was able to doze off. Between his feet, Gala sat with her head resting on her paws but not asleep. Even though the others hadn't been entirely on board with Pyro bringing his beloved dog with him, Gala herself had been incredibly persistent and refused to get out of the van once she climbed in. She was no guard dog, but her owner promised that she was great at identifying threats no one else could see, and knew a thing or two about assisting in a fight.
More interesting was Sniper, who had been a mystery to Doc. The two rarely had any reason to speak except the occasions where Doc visited RED and couldn't find someone he was looking for - often Pyro, Soldier or Engineer. Even though Doc could read Sniper's body language and understand what he was seeing, he couldn't understand why. Sniper was clearly a friend of both Pyro and Spy, comfortable in their presence and not closing himself off entirely. He didn't treat the two bots across from him with any hostility either, hardly having given them a second glance after they had all boarded the vehicle. Despite his comfort with the situation around him, his crossed arms shielded himself against something that couldn't be seen; a threat that could not be perceived. Occasionally, the grip his hand had on his opposite arm tightened for a bit like claws digging in, before releasing. Doc had seen similar behaviour before in the BLU Sniper back when the wounds of the former Scout's passing had still been fresh and the BLU marksman blamed himself for it. With that knowledge, he assumed there was something the RED Sniper couldn't stand about himself, like he couldn't ever be comfortable in his own body.
Despite how good he was at reading people, one person he found himself struggling to read more and more each day was his dearest friend Makina. The Sniperbot sat next to Doc and idled away, the light that normally shined through his eyes having gone dim. Neither of the bots could really emote like humans, with faces of metal that couldn't smile, frown, scowl or laugh. They could speak with intonations and inflections like people, but Makina had gone silent and retreated further into himself. When he spoke, it was often just about getting the job done so that they could go back to their normal lives, but all Doc could imagine of what Makina saw as a 'normal life' was just locking himself inside his shed and waiting for something he wasn't sure of.
But if nothing else, Doc could feel how uneasy Makina was at having to return to Gray Industries. The Medibot shared the same feeling too, as if they might have walked in to find that nothing had changed. He wasn't sure if he could handle stepping back inside, only to find Gray and Olivia both alive, the factory still running, and the last year having just been one big dream.
The light in Makina's eyes brightened as the van came to a stop, Doc quickly looking away so he didn't get caught staring at his friend. The mercenaries stirred and shifted as Vanguard leaned around the passenger seat to check in on the people riding in the back. "We're here. We saw one of those Oddity things roaming around, so Shark wants to go on foot from here."
"Damn," Pyro mumbled through a yawn, "keep it quiet then."
The team carefully exited the van, finding themselves having stopped not too far from the skeletal remains of Gray Industries. The compound gates and walls couldn't have been more than four-hundred yards away, the towers looming over them in the darkness like the skeletal shadow of a monster. Even from the distance they were at, the damage done to the compound was visible. No longer was it a shining tower of crystal glass polished to perfection, with meticulous care put into maintaining everything for the former owner's sake. Dust, dirt stains, sun-bleached spots and damage from break-ins had taken its toll on the compound, turning it into nothing more than another abandoned building that the Badlands slowly worked to consume. Beyond the wear and tear that the compound had suffered through over time, the only other change were the shadowy figures crawling around it.
Small blobs of shadows moved around aimlessly in the dark, simply going where their strange feet took them. Each one was different, the details of their wretched forms unclear, but certainly not normal. Makina, Doc, and the two OpMercs - equipped with night vision - could see the horrific creatures with much more clarity. Mangled and contorted human-like shapes, with body parts and features where they shouldn't have been. There was no logical explanation for how these things were able to exist in such ways, with giant webbed-like fingers, or necks that twisted in on themselves over and over; mouths that were just too wide, bodies that were too compressed or stretched, and legs that were far too long for their tiny torsos. The images had done little to really display just how grotesque and monstrous the Oddities really were.
Pyro didn't need night vision to know just what he was looking at. The contorted figures in the darkness were all too recognisable to him and the other mercenaries. "Fuck, they really did make it out here. I was kind of hoping this was all one big joke," He muttered, keeping his voice down to avoid attracting the attention of the freaks. He took another peek out from behind the rocky outcrop the van had parked behind. "Doesn't look like there's a lot of them though." His hand reached out for Gala, reassuringly scratching between her ears. The golden dog stood at attention as she watched the shapes move across the night.
"I counted six of them out here," Cardshark stated, "think we can make it into the compound without alerting any of them?"
Pyro nodded. "As long as we keep it quiet. What I'm worried about is how many more are inside."
"Only one way to find out, I suppose."
The firebug looked out at the space between them and the compound wall. There wasn't a gate in sight - or if there was one, he couldn't see it through the darkness. It was both a blessing and a curse, because if he couldn't see, then neither could the roaming Oddities. Sadly, the Badlands weren't exactly known for its lush forests that could have provided cover when trying to get to Gray Industries. Dry, flat land and the couple of rocks and pebbles were all it had to offer, at least out here. "Not a whole lot of cover. Best thing we can do is try to make it over as quickly and quietly as possible. Moving as a group makes us easier to see, so maybe we should go one by one? Looks like we just have to make it past these six, then it seems clear beyond that until the wall." He looked over to Spy and Sniper for their thoughts. Sniper shrugged, not knowing the bots or the OpMercs well enough to want to have a say.
Spy nodded his approval. If the situation was any less tense, he might have wanted to make a joke about how that was one of the few times Pyro had a good idea coming out of his mouth. "One by one is smart. Just be quick, be quiet, and try to completely avoid the Oddities. Remember that they identify people based on sight and sound, so if one looks your way, just stay still. It'll lose interest as long as you're not holding onto any Australium. If you absolutely have to fight one, go for the head. Archer, want to go first? You're the fastest between the three of us. Get to the other side and keep watch for any others."
The RED marksman shrugged once more, his arms dropping to his side. "Alright." He moved to the edge of the outcrop, taking a quick look around to identify where the Oddities were. They moved lazily but without pattern, sometimes wandering in one direction for a considerable distance before turning around. Other times, it seemed they couldn't make up their minds and kept changing directions. Occasionally one would stop and look around or scratch at itself before it kept going. If they were not some of the most hostile creatures of the freak world, they might have been interesting to some really strange people in the world's weirdest circus.
There was a brief break in the aimless movement of the six Oddities wandering around, most of them looking away. Sniper took that opportunity and dashed across the space, keeping his movements light and quiet. He avoided little pebbles that could have made noise if they were kicked aside, picking his route to avoid as many little obstructions as he could. One of the Oddities started to turn its creepy head his way, but he had gone too far for it to see much more than a brief movement in the air before it went still again. Sniper moved behind a small boulder to hide himself.
Upon seeing that Sniper had made it past the Oddities, Cardshark and Vanguard took their opportunities to move. Quick as ever, Vanguard sprinted across in record time and was hardly given a single glance by the idling monsters. Cardshark had been a little slower, but kept his steps so light that he may as well have been floating. Makina went across next, unable to run without his massive metal frame making noise but keeping his movements slow enough that his footsteps were as muted as possible. Spy followed behind. They occasionally had to stop when one monster looked their way, only continuing on when it finally lost interest and looked away.
That left Pyro and Doc. The firebug gently nudged for Doc to move, finding the bot resisting. "Scared?" Pyro asked. "Thought you were the less emotional one between you and Makina."
"I do not like these Oddity creatures now that I've seen them. And I do not like feeling this fear either. They look… wrong," Doc admitted. Fear had been one of those things he hadn't felt in a long time. Living with BLU, there was little to be scared of. Concern? Absolutely, he was always concerned for the wellbeing of his friends and wanted them to be okay. The Medibot wasn't even sure when the last time was that he felt fear, but it locked up his joints like a chill. Pyro's constant warmth was a little comforting, but Gala's presence was even more so. The retriever pushed herself up against Doc's wheel, her wagging tail gently whacking him over and over again as thought she was trying to encourage him in her canine ways. She occasionally looked up at him with her tongue lolling out.
"Yeah, I know how it feels. Don't like these guys any more than you do. But we do have to move. Gala and I will be right behind you, okay? Just move steadily and don't think too much about it. You'll know if they're looking at you," Pyro encouraged. While he wasn't really the kind to offer comforting words, he did need Doc to get a move on. He could see a few more Oddities were coming closer, sporadically moving towards them. If they got much closer, there was a chance that he'd have to burn their way through and risk a massive fight.
When Pyro nudged him again, Doc knew he had to move. He experimentally moved just a few feet, trying to keep his wheel as quiet as it could get without only moving inches at a time. At the very least, he had always maintained his chassis so there were no squeaky joints to worry about, but the nagging fear made him feel like every sound he made was amplified then times. He could hear Pyro's footsteps following closely behind, further propelling himself forward.
A message came in, making Doc's eyes flash in the darkness. He immediately froze, dimming the lights behind his eyes, and took a look around before he kept going. As he went, he checked the message sent from Makina who watched from the other side. You're doing great. Keep coming over. The encouragement had him speeding up just a little, wanting to get it over with.
Then another message came in from Makina. Stop moving. You're being watched.
Doc froze where he stood, only turning his head ever so slightly to the left. He found himself looking at a terrible creature with massive webbed hands, fingers so elongated that they may as well have been the bones in the wings of a bat. Its facial features were out of place, blank eyes sitting just a bit too low and too far apart while its lower jaw squished upwards, curved teeth cutting into itself. Its body was stocky and squarish, thin hind legs stretching out behind it like a pair of broken chopsticks. It was a horrific caricature of a human, as though a preschooler had cut up a magazine and clumsily pieced together random images in a way that only made sense to themselves.
Doc stared at it.
The Oddity stared back.
It lunged.
The creature's webbed hands reached out for the Medibot, looking like they could stretch even further to grab him. Just as its fingertips were about to touch him, the whole body flopped to the ground as Gala jumped, her sixty-pound frame slamming into the creature and throwing it aside. Pyro drove the blade of his axe straight into its neck. A sticky, black liquid spurted out as the blade smashed through the Oddity's soft flesh. It made a quiet gurgle, its arms trembling as it tried to still reach for Doc. Pyro firmly planted his boot on its head and yanked the axe out, before taking another measured swing that severed the creature's head from its body. The body shuddered and writhed for a second, before it went still. The head still gasped. When the mercenary looked up at Doc, the bot simply continued to roll away in silence, joining the rest of the group. He instinctively moved towards his friend, Makina moving Doc further away to avoid watching Pyro split the head in two and clean the blade of his axe against the corpse. The firebug and his dog joined up with the others.
"That could have gone better," Spy whispered, not wanting to upset Doc any further. "At least you didn't alert anything else."
"Sure," Pyro replied, "but at least I got to kill something. Felt good. And Gala's getting good at her training."
Spy couldn't resist rolling his eyes. "Of course that's what you care about most. Makina located an entry point while you two were handling that whole situation. We should go in case more of the Oddities show up." Pyro gestured for them to keep moving, allowing the group to gather themselves before they continued on.
Thankfully, the Oddities between the boulder and the wall were sparse. They were all far enough to not be a problem, and the single one that did wander closer hadn't noticed that there were strangers nearby.
Makina led them around the compound to a side gate he knew of, hating that he could still remember the layout of Gray Industries inside-out. At the very least, keeping those map files did come in handy, and the Operator's mentions of there being more to the facility made him curious enough to want to keep mapping the place.
The side gate was a lonesome entry that no one had used in a long time - in fact, Makina wasn't even sure why it had been built, because he was quite certain that in all his years of having to live within the walls, he had never see anyone use it. He had once considered it as part of his escape plan, but it was always guarded by four Heavybots and cameras that were active at all times. The gate was also not unlocked using the bots's logic chips, but rather with a keycard that he assumed only Gray and Olivia had access to in the past, so it wasn't meant for bots to be able to pass through easily. His best guess was that it was just an additional way for Gray to get in and out of the facility, if where he wanted to go involved the boring Badlands desert.
Coming up to the gate, it was clear that the keycard defense had been broken, for it remained open ajar with the lock smashed apart. It was quite certain that looters had come by the facility and tried to find anything worthwhile within its walls, though they likely would have been disappointed with a mostly empty facility full of useless paperwork. Not even the storage units would have held any bots to loot after their dramatic march on the Badlands that ended in all of them turned to scrap amidst a ruined city.
Through the dark, weathered notices slapped on the wall by the gate could be made out. The paper right on the top was old and torn, faded with the relentless sun and ink washed out by the occasional rain. It was hardly readable, and Spy reached out to tear it off. Beneath the first layer was a second notice, considerably less damaged though the faded ink was hard to read in the dark.
"Some light please, Axel?" Spy prompted.
Pyro glanced around to make sure there weren't any nearby Oddities that could have seen the light, before generating a small glowing orb. It was no bigger than his palm, floating above Spy when Pyro pushed it over. Not only did Pyro's power bring incredible amounts of destruction when he could set things ablaze just with his hands, but he had a few useful tricks up his sleeves that were less for destruction, and more for utility and fun. Gala loved to chase the light orbs, her chocolate eyes fixed on the floating light.
"Thank you." Spy looked back down at the paper notice now that there was some light to make the text readable, and found himself looking at a notice dated back in February that the property was slated for demolishing and redevelopment. "Huh. The facility was supposed to be demolished all the way back in February. And yet it's still here."
"Weird," Pyro mumbled, "Teufort loves breaking things. Let's just get inside and see if there's something going on here." He pushed open the gate wider and patted the top of Gala's head to grab her attention, wandering inside as the orb of light faded. Spy and Sniper followed behind, then Cardshark and Vanguard. Doc, wanting to get over the encounter with the terrible Oddity, steeled himself and rolled in, only to find that Makina was still standing outside the gate. The Medibot looked between his friend and the rest of the group, deciding that they could catch up later if the group to got too far. He rolled back to the gate.
"I don't want to be here either," Doc mentioned, "but it's just one more time right? Once Vanguard and Cardshark get what they came here for, we're done and we don't need to come back ever."
Makina stared up at the abandoned facility above them, his mind screaming with resistance. Every part of him wanted to run away and just lock himself in his shed, maybe even break the phone so that the Operator couldn't contact him ever again. He couldn't find the words to explain just how hard it was for him to take one little step and walk through those gates again and reenter his greatest nightmare.
His eyes flashed as Doc sent him a message. You're doing great. Keep coming over. It echoed what Makina had sent to encourage Doc to make it past the first pack of monsters. The message did little to quell the voices inside that screamed and shouted not to go back, but it did give him a reason to fight off the fear. He took a step, then another past the gates, fully expecting it to slam shut and lock behind him, but it remained pushed wide open. The facility remained quiet and dead as it had been for months. Gray remained a corpse, as did Olivia. Nothing changed.
They walked in silence amidst the graveyard they had broken out of, having nothing to say to each other and taking no comfort from how quiet it all was.