Three captors and three prisoners marched through the mountains of Hydro, the refracted red of the canyon slowly burning from morning to noon. Around the REDs each BLU took up a position, the Pyro leading point, watching with suspicion the men corralled between them. Demo wished he hadn't been put so close to the BLU Soldier. His dislocated shoulder sent electric pangs up his body with every step, and the procession of dehydration and sweat taxed him more than he was prepared for. The RED Soldier, to his left, shot him a glance of concern every now and again, but what was he to do? What could any of them do for each other now? Scout wouldn't even look his way.
When they'd first taken the BLU Spy, a chip falling into their hand, Demo had thought there was still hope left, even then. Still a chance they could finagle something between their two teams that didn't end with everyone a messy smear on Hydro's walls. But that had always been doomed. There was too much hatred between the bands of men that had spent so long killing each other. There was no love anymore. Not even in the deepest corners—it'd been rubbed away until it was raw, bleeding flesh to sting in open air.
Rivulets of sweat ran down Demo's back. No one had eaten anything since last night. Thirst might be an actual killer if they all weren't careful.
Pyro glanced over their shoulder. Maybe they had sympathy for their prisoners, or maybe only for their fellow BLUs, but regardless they said, "We'll get to the air vent soon. It'll be cooler in there."
When they arrived at the 'air vent' they all stopped short. In front of them was another connecting branch of the trenches bored into the mountainside, like the ones that had saved them from the collapse. Pyro mumbled sharply—clearly this was a surprise to them as well.
They scratched their rubber-covered head and knelt down to examine the excavation. " This is the way I got in but…this wasn't here before. "
"What'd she say?" Scout asked, seeming to barely care in his annoyance. Clearly some people weren't as good at deciphering Pyro-speak as others.
"Pyro once went to the bargaining table with the Voice. And lived!" The BLU Soldier barked. "This is how to get to her, and her camera room."
"But it looks like someone beat us to it," Engineer finished. He knelt down and picked up one of the rock chips.
"Is that why whoever made swiss cheese 'a the map?" Demo asked. "Because they were looking for the cameras?"
No one answered. Unprompted, Pyro made a small noise of distress.
"What's wrong, Py?" Engie asked them.
"I just realized: if we really ARE fired, then I'm NEVER going to get those weapons she promised."
Soldier scoffed, and began the charge into the mountain.
Thankfully, it was cooler inside. Demo fought off the thirst building inside him, and knew he wouldn't get any use out of whinging to the BLUs. He wondered what would have happened if they hadn't been captured. Maybe they could have looked for food in the remains of the base. Or maybe whoever had blown it up in the first place really would have come back and finished them off.
The Soldier intruded into his discomfort even more, the tunnels closing in over them like a canopy. Herding them closer together. When it finally began to widen it was a relief; the Pyro seemed to think so, running ahead and motioning frantically.
But when they reached the end of their several hour long journey, it offered little in the way of hope.
"Aw hell," the Engineer muttered.
Every screen was dark. What was worse, most of them were smashed, and broken computers rose in piles near a scattering of phones ripped from their holsters. More tunnels stretched outwards from the core, as though this were the center chamber of a massive network. An impressive chair stood lonely and forgotten.
Someone hadn't wanted them using this.
"Well this was a waste of time," Soldier growled, and no matter how it pained him Demo couldn't help but agree. The Administrator had either covered her tracks, or someone else had done it for her.
"Don't say that just yet Sol," the Engineer said, sitting down near the computers. "These may not connect to the camera systems anymore, but that don't mean they're useless. Given a couple of hours and a little bit of luck…I may be able to send a message out of here."
Demo blinked. "Really?" he said, forgetting his predicament for a moment. "Won't she be able to block it?"
Engie didn't seem to care who he was talking to now that he was examining the computers with intensity. "Maybe, maybe not. But since this is TF Industries technology we're working with here, I think I'd have a better shot than just puttering around with what we have on base."
Demo thought of his mother. She wouldn't expect him home until the weekend. If he didn't come back, she'd be mad that he didn't call, but think he was just out on another job.
It might be weeks before she realized something was wrong.
By that time he could be dead. It seemed increasingly likely the more time he spent in close proximity to the BLU Soldier, the man's ill will as poisonous as the vipers that no doubt had taken up in the new-made tunnels. He'd lost two of his friends in twenty-four hours and he was starting to despair of holding on to the two he still had with him. If he could send a message…just to tell his mother he loved her…
Engie interrupted his thought with a loud clang that sent computer parts spinning.
Soldier watched his teammate with dubious confidence. But the Engineer didn't look like he had any plans of moving any time soon, so the Soldier sighed and said, "Fine. We make camp here. For now."
Scout didn't waste much time. He dropped against the cool metal of the wall, folding his arms and staring at the back of Engie's head. After a moment, each of the REDs joined him, spreading out evenly around the circumference of the room. Demo didn't feel like getting cozy with his teammates, so he triangulated the point furthest away and sat, gingerly keeping his arm tucked against his body.
He wasn't discreet enough. When he'd caught the Soldier's attention he had no idea; he was only aware that when he glanced up to check on the preoccupied Engineer, he instead met a pair of piercing blue eyes that sent a jolt of unease right up his spinal column. The unease quickly molted into terror as Soldier took a few rapid steps toward him.
"Now just you watch it-" was all Demo had time for before the Soldier was in front of him.
"Hold still," he said, expression empty.
"Wha-? I'm not going to hold still while you-"
Soldier was inches from his face, suddenly crouched in front of him faster than he thought the tank of a man could move. A glance to the side; the Engineer was distracted and the Pyro was looking on only mild interest. Would either of them try to stop Soldier if he tried to kill him again? He was beginning to turn the idea of petitioning a pleading look at his teammates that now was time for something drastic, when Soldier made the decision for him.
There was pain. A lot of it. Maybe he'd been expecting that, but the feeling of unfathomable relief as his shoulder snapped back into place overrode it all. Already within this first second of Soldier's hand gripping his bicep the stabbing sensation was flowing away, draining down his wrists, out of his veins. Within two, there was only the ache, the grumble of muscles having been disturbed from their usual position and now sinking back into contentment.
Soldier didn't move, his nose still inches from Demo's. The moments ticked on, until Demo snorted derisively, "What? You want me to thank you for that?"
Soldier still said nothing.
"Why?" Demo demanded. "After trying to kill me?"
"Maybe I don't want to kill you, maggot," Soldier snarled softly. "Did that ever occur to you, RED? That I never wanted to kill you?"
A sharp breath hitched in Demo's throat. Soldier's eyes were wild; he was crazy, obviously crazy, even as he seemed to be begging Demo to understand something more than his words. And oh Demo had tried in the beginning, had searched desperately in this same face for any hint of the man he thought was still buried there.
But there was nothing. He was done looking for a chance that wasn't there. "Get off me," he growled.
The clatter of a wrench peeling open control panels made itself the only sound. The Soldier had no reason to obey that command. Yet, after a moment, he rose and walked over to start barking orders at Pyro about food or something similar. Demo felt a tension leave him that had nothing to do with his bruised shoulder.
Soldier and Pyro bickered. The RED Soldier had scooted closer to Scout, a hushed conversation that involved one party asking what was wrong and the other being an irritable little swick who was determined to curl in on himself.
Demo was feeling alone in a crowded room when one of the TVs crackled like it was full of bees.
Everyone froze, whipping around to look up at the display in the center of the room. The unbroken screen was filled with static, but Engineer stepped back and dusted off his hands, a look of satisfaction on his face. The box on the ground nearest to him was wired to the screen.
The BLU Soldier asked, "Are you getting a signal out?"
"Actually, I'm doing one better," Engineer grinned proudly. "Or I guess, one worse depending on how you look at it. I'm actually receiving a signal."
"What?" everyone shouted at once.
Engie didn't get a chance to explain. The static was starting to carve a picture, the outline of a human figure in the middle of the screen bubbling into existence. They all clustered around, RED and BLU alike, watching the fuzz clear.
A warbled voice was coming from the computer. "…D..t…hell…ere…is...one?"
The Engineer knelt in front of it. "This BLU Engineer reporting. Who am I talking to here?"
"…Ue…how…req…?"
"Dammit," Engie muttered. He began to fiddle with his computer, the audio getting more broken even as the picture distilled.
"This is all secured and shit right?" Scout asked, voice hushed. "So…do you think that might be the Administrator on there?" He pointed at the screen.
Demo's jaw clenched. Even though he knew the Administrator was probably hundreds of miles away by now, the thought of seeing her sent shivers down his spine. There was something terrifying about the women, especially when she had the power to make their lives worse at any moment. Worse than she'd already made them, anyhow.
But to Demo's surprise, it was Soldier who answered Scout's question. "No," he said in a voice that was entirely too still, too chilling to not speak volumes. "It's not her. It was never her."
The room held its breath. When the screen cleared, it wasn't the Administrator, or even Miss Pauling.
A skinny, rather nervous looking man in a business suit, said, "He…lo…? Am I get…ing through to…now?"
"Well," Engie said, blinking at the screen. "I'll be darned." He leaned down to the microphone sticking out of the remains of the switchboard. "This is BLU Engineer, and you're coming through just fine."
"Engineer? Like as in one of her mercenaries?" The man on the screen looked agitated, running a hand through his dark hair. "Hell. When I thought I could get in touch with some of her people, this isn't exactly what I had in mind."
"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Soldier asked darkly.
The man flinched, even with the barrier of the screen between them. "Nothing, nothing! I was just hoping to find like…agents, some of her spies. You know, people who know things."
"I know one thing. And it's that if we don't start getting some answers, you're a dead man."
"Soldier." Engie glanced over his shoulder, conveying narrowed eyes through the goggles. To the mic, "Don't mind my friend, we're just in a stressful situation right now. And I don't know why you were looking for us in the first place, but we ain't the Administrator's 'people' anymore. Assuming that's the 'her' you're talking about."
"What?" The man had papers in front of him, shuffling across a switchboard that looked like the one in Hydro before it was smashed. "What do you mean?"
"Well, as of yesterday, she informed us over the speakers that we're expected to kill the other team without the help 'a our respawn system. Since that's a breach in our contract, you can imagine what conclusions we've drawn."
The papers ceased moving before Engineer had finished the last word.
"Yesterday?" The stranger blinked. "Well that's…that's just not possible."
The Soldier drew in a sharp breath.
When it seemed now one else was going to, Demo asked, "Why wouldn't that be possible?"
"Well, uh, because Helen's right next to me." Both rooms froze as the man scratched behind his neck. "And, uh, I'm no coroner, but she's been dead for at least a week."
The silence hung heavy, clinging to the mercenaries the way the heat had not too long ago, digging into skin, bringing salt into the eyes.
"Dead," Soldier repeated.
"Um yes. Dead dead," the man said. "As in shot. Killed. You know, dead."
"We're familiar," Engie said.
"But…" Demo began. "How? She was just talking to us the other morning!"
"Maybe she left you guys some messages?" the man shrugged. "Like pre-recorded stuff? I don't know, you're asking the wrong guy."
"They couldn't be messages," Engie said. "Our Scout tried some dumb shit, and immediately she went on the speakers and chewed us out. She had to have been watching us."
Soldier was quickly sliding from the reality of the conversation. "She wasn't real. Never was. God damn it…"
If Demo hadn't felt his own safety hinged on the Soldier staying sane for the time being, he might not have even noticed. And, if Demo had not spent so many years at his side, he wouldn't have grasped the full gravity of it.
As Soldier backed away, the interrogation went on.
"Who even are you?" Engineer asked.
"Bidwell? I said that at the beginning? Oh, um maybe you guys still couldn't hear me then. But uh, I work for Mann Co. and the robot invasion has been getting bad, so Mr. Hale had me come to Helen to ask for help. But…well…when I got here, it was clear she was already aware of the severity of the situation."
Demo followed Soldier's path with his eye. The others settled into silence.
"Okay," Scout said. "Quick question. What the fuck?"
"What are you on about?" The RED Soldier demanded. "Robots? Invasion? If you weren't inside that tiny box I'd kick your ass for crazy talk!"
"…You guys didn't know about the robot war?" The question was answered by the merc's silence. "But I mean, it's been going on for years! I guess she really did keep you guys in the dark…"
"No shit," Scout mumbled.
"Start from the beginning," Engie told Bidwell. "What the hell is this about robots?"
Bidwell sighed. "I really wish this terminal connected to Team Citadel. Um, the beginning beginning? Because I think that would violate quite a few company confidentiality laws…"
"Just start talking hippie!"
Bidwell puffed his cheeks and let out a breath. "Well alright. It's not like keeping her secrets is going to do any good anymore." He looked over his shoulder to where the Administrator's body presumably was. "So. Um…I guess if we want to go all the way back, you know the Mann brothers? Since Helen's basically been playing them both from the beginning-"
The BLU Soldier collapsed against the far wall.
Demo couldn't help it. The danger, again and again, but he was still being pulled toward the Soldier, down to kneel next to him. To watch the unfathomable distress on his face. To be close enough that when Soldier looked up and truly saw Demo, he was able to hear the BLU mummer, "God. I really fucked it up, didn't I?"
Behind him, the TV droned on, like it was in another universe. One detached from the one where Soldier had looked at him with clarity for the first time in years.
"I'm pretty sure it was robots who killed Helen," Bidwell said. "They have some pretty distinctive bullets so uh, no mystery there."
"Dollar bills in their bullets," Soldier said softly, even as Demo heard Bidwell say the same words across the room. "It wasn't you either. Never…never was…you didn't say." His hand found Demo's forearm again. Despite the pain Demo felt no urge to push it away.
"You alright Soldier?"
Their situation had finally been noticed, alarm piquing the Engineer's voice to turn and see the enemy Demoman leaning over his Soldier. However, a second later, that was the least of his concerns.
Scout moved fast.
In all the excitement of Bidwell's appearance, Engineer had lost track of his shotgun, forgetting it unattended on top of the switchboard. It was in Scout's hands faster than Demo could blink, pointed at the Engineer's chest even as Soldier's words were penetrating his mind.
"Not a step, pally," Scout said.
Engie froze, his hand hovering just above the pistol poking out of his belt.
Scout narrowed his eyes. "You think you can draw that faster than I can put a round in your ugly head? Think you're faster than me?"
Engineer considered. Then he raised his hands, bringing them up the sides of his head in hair-trigger surrender.
Scout snorted. "Yeah. That's what I thought."
"Scout!" Demo said. "What the hell are you doing?"
"What in the heck is going on over there?" Bidwell's voice called faintly, but everyone ignored him.
"Demo, grab his weapons," Scout said, pointing an elbow at the BLU Soldier.
The RED Soldier stood in the middle of the room, head whipping back and forth between Scout and Demo. Where had the BLU Pyro gone? Hadn't they been here when the TV turned on? They'd been arguing with their Soldier, he was sure but… Demo's mind felt like it was rolling a boulder up a hill, no matter how fast he went, unable to figure things out in time.
The BLU Soldier didn't even react to the Scout's command. His eyes were in some middle distance, and for some reason that scared Demo even more than the snarl on Scout's face.
"Yo, what's the holdup?" Scout's grip on the shotgun was wrong, like he was still trying to hold his scattergun. "Soldier, check the hall, make sure the freak isn't heading back this way. Demo, hurry up and grab the guns."
Demo's mouth worked silently for a moment. He glanced down at Soldier. "No," he said, very softly.
"Whadda you mean, 'no'? You want to stand around being prisoners for the rest of the fucking war?"
"No! I mean I don't- We shouldn't be flipping the script either. None of us are going to survive if we keep letting them pin us against one another." Demo found himself standing, putting himself between Scout and the Soldier slumped against the wall.
"Bullshit . That big fucking hole where our base used to be ain't enough proof for you?" He jabbed his gun in Engie's direction again. "Past the point of no return, pally. They take ours, we take theirs, and you can bet we ain't stopping until one side is six feet under."
"I can't accept that," Demo said, and was shocked to find he believed it.
"Take his fucking gun Demo!"
"Don't turn that bloody thing on me ," Demo snarled. "After I saved your ungrateful arse?"
He'd taken one authoritative step toward Scout and his teammate had swung the shotgun off Engineer and toward his teammate. Scout's face, a twisted mask of spite melted for one moment into stupefaction.
"Holy shit," he said. "Spy was right. He said someone was selling us out, and I thought he was crazy but he was right, wasn't he? It was you, you're shelling for the BLUs now-"
"Now wait just one bloody moment-" An involuntary step toward Scout, this time out of indignation.
"Stay the fuck away from me! I swear if you had anything to do with-"
"SCOUT! PUT IT DO-"
He'd been shot in the chest many times. More than he'd ever like to be. It was familiar to him, always terribly slow, that; slow enough to watch Scout's blank expression turn to alarm as he heard the sound of a safety clicking off beside him. The Engineer had taken advantage of the distraction. Even as everything burned inside him, things still moved slow enough to watch the Engineer fire, to see the RED Soldier finally break into movement, throwing himself at Scout to get the younger man out of the way.
All of that before Demo even hit the ground. He fell the wrong way to see anymore, only the RED Soldier's cry of, "Move, private, move," and the sound of Engineer firing off more shots down the hall as he cursed up a storm. What he did see…
"No, God damn it, no ."
The BLU Soldier, kneeling in front of him. His Soldier. He'd never been more certain of anything than he was in that moment.
"Engie!" Soldier said, his voice unnatural, high pitched. Clawing with distress. "Dispenser, now."
Footsteps, near the entrance to the tunnel, followed by a goddammit. They drew closer, stopping somewhere near Demo's back. "Ain't going to work Sol. RED's a RED, a dispenser isn't going to know-"
"You've got eleven goddamn PHDs, fucking FIGURE SOMETHING OUT."
That was one of the last things Demo heard before the darkness began to claim him. That, and a whispered please, please as another set of hands pressed against the wound in his chest.