A/N: Please note that I do include some German and French in the story, as it pertains to certain characters. Since I do not speak either language, I'm using google translate. This can be both entire sentences and just sporadic words. I do not provide translation, unless it is done in story by either a character or the context of the scene itself. Thanks! ~ WC ~
Chapter 2 – Shifted Classes
Frau rolled into a crouch, fired the scattergun, and then dove through an open window on her right. She had calculated correctly, of what had been below her but height and angle were a bit of an issue. As the crumpled heap of a mechanical sniper hit the ground behind her she landed on the platform below, rolling into a run before slamming into a rough bannister. She bit down a yelp as her ribs connected with the heavy wood, knowing full well there was going be a mark there in the morning.
Despite being out in the open, she took a moment to scan the area. She'd shifted ahead of the group, taken out two snipers and three fellow scouts, all mechanical. Somehow that made her feel slightly better, she wasn't sure she could fire at another human. Speaking of which, there was her team coming around the corner. She saw RED Sniper off to the right, framed in window and heard the crack of his rifle a second later. To her rear, several yards away, she heard the crackle of broken machinery and sparking wires. The telltale sound of a destroyed machine.
Sniper saw the girl standing on a platform, under an open window, to his right. She seemed to be taking brief respite from running, perhaps to catch her breath. He had to give her credit, she knew the area, knew how to run, and knew how to shoot. He's come upon a mechanical sniper, crumpled in a heap at the foot of a plywood platform, and seen at least two crumpled scout forms.
She gave a quick flip of her hand in his general direction, not giving away his position, and disappeared inside one of the buildings. He shifted his gaze down and the little group below. The girl's Pyro and Soldier were holding their own and Medic seemed back in his element with the girl's Medi-pack on his back. They'd been attacked by a stray scout and a couple of spies a bit ago. The latter had been eliminated by the two Pyros and the scout had been introduced to Soldier's shovel. Demo had taken a bat swing to the shoulder before Soldier was able to take the Scout's head off, but Medic had taken care of the injury quickly enough.
They were working as a well-oiled team, even though his team had never worked with her's. He was impressed with their professionalism and lack of fear. He got the feeling wherever they were from, this wasn't exactly normal for them. But, they were dealing and pulling their weight to get them to safety. Except that idiot Scout with the loud mouth.
Sniper had known his team's Scout for years and was used to the brash cocky nature of his personality, it seemed to be a trait the BLU Team's scout had possessed as well. Open mouth, insert foot had been a common occurrence, you just got used to it. Truth be told, he kind of missed it. But, the idiot the girl had with her was another story altogether. Besides being loud and not very observant, he also appeared to be a coward and just plain stupid.
When the Girl had taken off toward respawn, her team had quickly took up positions as she'd instructed. The Soldier had grabbed the scout back of the neck and pulled him to his feet roughly. Said scout was still sniffling to himself, not quite recovered from the earlier slap by the Girl's Pyro. Soldier had locked eyes with RED Sniper, looked embarrassed and had mouthed sorry at him before whispering something to the scout as he drug him past BLU Pyro and toward Medic. He half pushed half threw him next to Medic, who'd looked disgusted to be near him.
"Just sit tight and don't get anyone killed." He'd growled, his voice not quite catching the gruffness of RED Soldier, but it was a close thing. "You rabbit, you're on your own…got it?"
The scout had nodded weakly, tears streaming down his face. Since then, he'd stayed as close to Medic, as Medic would allow. Sniper figured the idiot would have crawled on Medic's back and clung to him like a baby koala if Medic hadn't made it abundantly clear, with a few choice swears in German and threat of a bone saw, that he wanted the scout at least an arm's length away.
That was how they'd made it more than halfway toward respawn. But, Sniper knew the way was going to get harder. The mechanicals liked to camp near spawn, that's how they'd lost Scout. BLU Scout had already been lost before RED and BLU had teamed up against the machines, but he'd heard from BLU Demo the story had been similar. The machines had been camping at spawn and his Scout…his friend…had gotten BLU Demo, RED Medic, and BLU Pyro back to spawn, but had not himself. He'd fallen defending a position several yards away, drawing the machines away from the three of them. He still missed the kid.
His head snapped up at the sound of a scattergun rapid firing in the distance. He swore under his breath, moving forward and the team below picked up pace.
Frau backpedaled down the hallway, firing into the Heavy. She'd rounded a corner right into him, expecting a sniper or Engineer. She'd never have put a Heavy into such a tight corner. It limited his movement, which was already a hindrance given the class, and made his mini-gun almost impossible to use effectively. Which, in hindsight, was probably why he was trying to fight her bare fisted instead.
She reloaded the scattergun and traded it out for the bat. Pumping rounds into a Heavy was a waste, they were bullet sponges. She took a deep breath and ran back down the hallway. As Heavy turned his lumbering bulk back in her direction, apparently once she was out of sight he forgot about her, she leapt into the air using a nearby crate to launch off of. She had the bat raised, two-handed, over her head and swung it in an arc back down into the Heavy's joint between shoulder and neck. As she landed in a crouch, she swept the bat to her left. The weapon connected with Heavy's knees, a hit that jarred her arm, causing the thing to totter before falling onto its face. Frau bounded to her feet and crashed the bat into the back of the Heavy's head, she was rewarded with the solid crunch of bent metal and a shower of sparks.
"Bonk." She huffed, trying to slow her breathing. "Not even a Sandvich for my troubles."
She gave the bat a flip and shoved it behind her back. As she pulled the scattergun back out, she heard shouts and the familiar sounds of rockets and sticky bombs. She ran through the hallway to an open platform. The respawn was just ahead of her and the team was several yards behind her. She'd cleared a decent path, but the mechanicals were spawn camping. She hated spawn campers. She'd been known to do a quick run by spawn in a heated Kill of the Hill match, but didn't hang around long…it wasn't her style.
She took stock, noticing RED Sniper further back from the rest of the team, picking off a couple straggling Demos. Froggy had traded positions with BLU Demo, taking the right flank where two Heavys were moving toward them. BLU Demo was focusing on two Pyros, while Streak was sweeping away Spies coming up from behind. BLU Pyro was alternating between the flamethrower and its shotgun, keeping a couple soldiers from rocket jumping too close. RED Medic was flicking between the team, giving spurts of health as needed. She saw Buddy huddling behind him, trying to make himself as small as possible and doing nothing to help the team.
"Idiot." She growled, her eyes flicking up to scan viable sniper nests. "Of all the times to be a jackass…"
She trailed off and her eyes narrowed as she saw the barrel of rifle peek from a window slightly ahead and to her right.
Sniper saw it too late, an opposing Sniper directly in front of him several yards away. From the angle he couldn't tell the precise target, but expected it to be Medic…it was always the medic. He had his scope trained on a Heavy and already knew, even before he started to divert to this newest target, that he was going to be too late and someone was going to die.
Then, from out of nowhere, a baseball crashed into the Mecha-Sniper's face. As the mech staggered, Sniper swung the rifle into position and easily picked it off.
"Hey, lotta good that gun didya!" The Girl shouted, waving her arms around frantically. "Hey! Other Team! We all got together and we go you a little something! It's an ass-beaten! I'm gonna come over and give it you right now!"
Sniper went slack-jawed, his rifle slipping slightly. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Not only was she acting like a crazy person, bouncing back and forth across the walkway, but screaming insults at the mechs at the top of her lungs. Fond memories of RED Scout were surfacing, even as he tried to figure out just what the hell she was doing. Then he saw most, not all mind you, but most of the mechanical attackers turn their attention toward the Girl.
"Dumbass!" She yelled, dodging fire from a nearby Heavy as she vaulted the banister and disappeared from view. "Nice aim!"
She was drawing the attackers to her, he understood that now. He respected the move, knowing there was no respawn, no second chance…if she screwed up, it would be the end of her. It was pretty damn ballsy. It was the same thing both RED and BLU Scouts had done and they'd paid the ultimate price for it.
"Move up…forward!"
Hearing Medic yell snapped Sniper back to the matter at hand. He popped two more aggressors before dropping out of his nest and running to a more forward location. As he did, he saw the Girl zig zagging among the machines, alternating between her scattergun and bat.
He had no idea why'd she'd been dressed as a medic earlier or how she'd been able to suddenly turn into a scout…clothing, weapons, the whole bloody thing. But, she was a damn fine scout. She was dodging in and out of the hoard with ease, peppering Heavys and Demos with shots, before disappearing in a puff of dust and insults. As he picked off another Demo, giving her a bit of breathing room, he saw three scouts break off from the group (which the Girl had steered to the left to give them an opening) and rush headlong toward the team.
"Bloody Hell…" He growled, then at the top of his lungs. "Oi, GIRL! Bloody scouts running ere!"
The yell gave away his position, which he'd anticipate and had already planned for. As he ducked a few shots, none of which were from a Sniper he noticed, he saw the Girl fire off at an opposing Pyro and turn her attention back to the team. The team itself shored up ranks, pushing tighter on Medic.
It was at that precise moment, as the Scouts got close enough to start shooting and the Girl was running up a nearby stairwell, that the moron scout she'd brought with her lost his damn mind…
Medic was muttering under his breath about the idiot Scout clutching at his back, trying very hard to resist the urge of running him through with his bone saw. Medic was back in his element, idiot clinging to him notwithstanding. He'd been without a medi-pack for some weeks now and having one back almost made him feel normal again. He was no battle medic to be sure. He could hold his own in a fight and was a damn fine shot with his crossbow, but he prided himself and truly excelled at being in the right position at the right time to help his team. BLU Medic had been the more adventurous of the two, the more inclined to take risks during a fire fight. Not unlike the young girl, who seemed to be running in and out of the mechanical hoard like a rabid doberman. Swinging her bat or firing off the scattergun with deadly accuracy. Every now and then he caught snippets of insults over the gun fire and explosions. Some were things familiar, things he would have expected RED Scout to have said, some were in German, and a few in French.
She was an interesting specimen, appearing first dressed as a medic then somehow "turning into" a scout. Except for her glasses, they seemed to transition with her. It was…
"Oi, GIRL! Bloody scouts running ere!"
Medic snapped his eyes forward, even as he dosed the girl's Pyro behind him, looking for the scouts. The Solider, BLU Pyro, and Demo all closed in tighter to him. Not enough to hinder him in keeping them healthy, but enough for him to realize it was a protective gesture. He both appreciated and loathed the gesture. He understood why, he was the only healer and he had the medi-pack. Although the girl seemed capable, presumably, to do his duties should the need arise. He also knew it was the right thing to do, tactically. He just hated to feel weak, like he was inferior…useless…
Suddenly there was a loud, high-pitched scream from behind him. Normally he would not have been caught unawares but this sounded like someone was being murdered in a manner both foul and painful. As Medic turned to swing the medi-gun around, expecting a heavily wounded Pyro behind him, something slammed into his right shoulder. Despite knowing it was the stupidest thing possible, Medic threw his right arm out to catch himself, hugging the medi-gun protectively to his chest. He hit his knees hard, feeling rocks dig in roughly and draw blood. He also felt something in his wrist give as the majority of his weight fell onto it. He growl a string of obscenities under his breath as the Scout that had been harboring behind him took off, disappearing into a nearby building.
"Fucking idiot!" Soldier roared, try to reposition after having been knocked aside as well. "Streak move up! Close the gap!"
Despite their best efforts, Medic could see the gap widening as Demo and BLU Pyro were being harried by their mechanical counterparts and the Pyro behind was focusing on a mechanical Pyro that had slipped by the girl just before the scouts had broken off. He saw what going to happen even before Soldier did. One of the Scouts sidestepped Soldier, trying to draw his attention as a second swung a bat toward Soldier's head. Soldier attempted to dodge and, though he wasn't going to get away unscathed, his quick lunge toward the first scout did manage to mitigate a lot of damage. The bat connected solidly with the back and side of his shoulder/shoulder blade. Medic heard the breath get knocked out of him as he hit his knees looking dazed, a mechanical could put a lot of power into a strike. Medic winced grabbing for his crossbow as the two scouts turned their attention to him. They weren't going to miss at this distance and he was going to die. Suddenly he heard a shout from his right, a strong female voice screaming German at the top of her lungs.
"Geh weg von meinem Sanitäter, du mechanischer Bastard!"
The girl landed in front of him in a puff of dirt, quickly straightening as her right arm swung the scattergun toward one scout and her left shoved the arms of the other scout up and away from Medic. Both weapons fired at the same time. The scout on the right's head was decimated and it crumpled to the ground in a shower of sparks. As it hit, the Girl swung her head to the right, eyes closed in pain. The left Scout's scattergun had gone off almost level with her left ear and Medic saw shot wounds peppering her shoulder as well as blood trickling from her ear.
"Frau!" Soldier yelled, trying to rock to his feet. "Medic, help her!"
Medic swung the medi-gun up as the girl, or Frau as she seemed to be called, cross armed her scattergun and took out the last scout. He winced as he forced his wrist to perform actions it did not seemed inclined to do. He narrowed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and pushed past the pain, but before he could do more than get the thing trained on her, the girl turned and grabbed him under the arm.
"Up you go Doctor." She muttered, pulling him to his feet and gently removing the medi-gun out of his hand. "Hold still for two seconds."
He didn't have much choice as she pulled back the handle and gave him a good dose of healing. He could feel the pain receding from his wrist and knees.
"Froggy you alive?" She barked, as she flipped the medi-gun off and handed it back. "Streak?"
" mfmfjksm!" Her Pyro mumbled from behind. "mokm."
"Mosty…" Soldier growled finally getting his footing. "Buddy, took off. He…"
"I'm not risking five lives for one moron." The girl snapped, glancing behind them toward spawn. "There's an opening now, it won't be there all day."
All eyes turned to the gap ahead, a gap the girl had somehow managed to make essentially by herself. He wasn't slighting the team by thinking that. They had worked well together keeping both him and each other alive as they'd made their way from more than half-way across the map to here. Sniper had given her a fair amount of help and even now Medic could hear his rifle sounding in the background. But facts were facts, the girl had cleared a path and without her some of them would not have made it. As the team nodded, shoring up their own gaps, Medic trained the medi-gun on the girl. Instead of waiting, however, she pushed the gun toward Soldier.
"Medics don't heal scouts." She muttered, her attention turned behind them. "Go you Idioten!"
Medic wasn't even surprised, as her clothes shifted the mimic that of RED Sniper. Well, except they were blue. Her scattergun was replaced by a sniper rifle and he heard her mutter to herself as they pushed past her toward the brief opening.
"I'm dealing with something…"
Sniper watched with a mix of awe and mild panic as the Girl leapt from the walkway and landed catlike in front of the kneeling Medic. He saw her destroy on Scout and also saw her grimace as the second Scout's round destroyed her eardrum. He gave her credit though, it didn't' slow her down. By the time she pulled Medic to his feet and healed him, Sniper had finished clearing them a path.
"Go you idioten!"
Sniper was mildly shocked to see her clothing shift to mimic his own, except blue. A second later there was a resounding crack from her sniper rifle. Sniper jumped as a spy, several feet behind him decloaked and hit the ground with a hollow thud. In rapid succession, her rifle sounded twice more, taking out two scouts that had been trying to circle around. She lowered the rifle briefly, nodding toward him. Sniper tipped his hat back, as he prepared to move to her position when he saw it. The telltale shimmer of a cloaked spy just to her left. She was oblivious and no doubt couldn't hear anything with that ear. The bastard had picked the absolute perfect spot to attack from. He yanked his rifle up and into his shoulder, hard enough there would be a bruise there later.
"SPY!"
The color drained from the girl's face as Sniper tried to get a bead on the machine. But the angle was wrong there wasn't even a sliver of it that he could hit without hitting her in the process.
"SPY!"
Frau felt her stomach tighten at the harried yell from RED Sniper. She'd been so worried about him she'd made the fatal mistake of having tunnel vision. He looked and sounded panicked and she was afraid he wouldn't have a shot, she'd barley had one on the spy that she'd taken out. If it wouldn't have been several feet away she'd never have gotten it so cleanly. She did the only thing she could think off, countering the blow wasn't an option without knowing which side the spy was on, and tried to roll forward.
As she threw her weight forward, bending her knees, she felt something dig into her back between her shoulder blades. She bit back a scream as the knife dug a furrow down the center of her back. The pressure of the knife and the pain threw her off, causing her to lean too far to the right instead of planting her hands evenly. The knife followed with her roll and as she veered sideways, so too did it. The knife swung under ribs and above her hip as she hit the ground on her side, instead of on her knees as intended. She rolled onto her back grinding the wound into the dirt in the process which brought a new explosion of pain, and tried to pull the rifle up to perform a no-scope. Suddenly the Spy's head fell forward and the rest other machine followed suit, landing face down next to her in the dirt.
"It seems you are having a bit of trouble my dear." RED Spy said, extending a hand to her. "Sorry I was late, Snipers to take care of and such."
"Merci." She said, taking the offered hand. "It's appreciated."
She whimpered slightly as she got to her feet. For a second her vision doubled, like it had done when she switched classes, and she could see the rifle in her hand waver to a crossbow for the briefest of seconds. The narrowed her eyes, refocusing and the rifle first steadied then shifted into a scattergun. She could feel blood running down her back and the dirt only helped to make every muscle movement agony, but she was maintaining at the very least. She felt a hand on her shoulder steady her and smiled weakly up at RED Spy. Sniper was out of breath as he came to a stope between Frau and Spy.
"We gotta move." He rasped, glancing toward where the team had cut through. "The team has their attention, but that won't last long."
Frau nodded then led, with Spy and Sniper bringing up the rear. She could hear gunfire in the distance and opted to move through the buildings instead of out in the open. They made a good clip, both men were athletic and long-legged so the kept up easily. Despite being half-deaf and potentially still bleeding, she didn't feel anything running down her back at the moment but most of that area had gone slightly numb, she was holding her own. She wasn't sure just what the hell was going on, how they'd gotten here, or even why there were here. But, she was determined no one was dying with her around…not again.
She slowed to a stop near a doorway, holding her hand toward Spy and Sniper to stop. The robots were surrounding Spawn, while the team fired from the open door.
"Ideas?" She asked, pain lacing her voice.
"Second door." Spy said, pointing to the right of the mass of machines. "The team seems to have anticipated the mob."
Spy was right, the second door was clear. All the machines were focused on the left and the firing from the team. Problem was the moment they set foot on open ground they were done for. That's when Frau got a crazy stupid idea. A potentially painful and lifesaving idea.
"Spy, how long does you cloak last?"
"About a minute and a half, why?"
"Is the door automatic? Does it open when you get close enough?"
"Yea." Sniper sounded confused. "What are you getting at?"
"If Spy sneaks down there first and get close enough to the door without triggering it than all you and I have to do is start running. We get close to him, he triggers the door, and we crash into the wall in a tangle of arms and legs, with potential concussions but we'd be alive."
Spy and Sniper exchanged glances for a second, before slowly nodding. Spy gave her a quick smirk then disappeared. Sniper moved up next to her, shouldering his rifle. She ignored his concerned looked and focused on where she thought Spy might be, given timing and distance.
"You ready?" She asked.
"As ready as I can be." He muttered. "You?"
Frau nodded and they broke from the building at a dead run. Frau was slightly ahead of Sniper, being lighter and used to sprinting. They were side by side with the mob, when shots peppered the ground at her feet. Suddenly Sniper gasped and hit the ground, sliding through the dirt on his stomach. Frau spun around and saw him struggling to his feet, one hand clutching at a bullet wound to his left thigh.
"Spy!" She screeched, turning toward the mob. "Help!"
Spy decloaked by Sniper, pulling him to his feet and wrapping an arm around his waist as he hoisted Sniper's right arm around his neck. Frau felt that, now familiar, doubling and was suddenly facing the hoard dressed as a Heavy and holding Sasha.
"Get to the door!" She roared, as Sasha's barrel started to spin. "No one's dying…not today!"
Medic was kneeling by the Girl's Pyro, treating a possible fracture, as BLU Demo and BLU Pyro were firing in the mob hoping to by the others some time. The Soldier was near the doorway as well, looking mildly worried.
"You'll be fine." Medic said, as he finished checking over the Pyro's arm trying to sound upbeat. It wasn't working, but at least he was trying. "They should…"
His head snapped up at the sound of a mini gun coming from the secondary door. That sound had been absent from here for some time. Both BLU and RED Heavys had been the first causalities of this senseless war. Seconds later Spy and Sniper stumbled through the door, Sniper leaning heavily on the other man and bleeding from a wound to his left thigh. Medic snapped to his feet and started forward, hefting the medi-gun toward Sniper just as the Girl backed through the door.
"All of you are babies!"
For the briefest of moments Medic was frozen in place. The girl was firing Sasha out the door using both the gun and her own body to protect the two men behind her. Determination etched her face as the mini-gun rained death and destruction down on her adversaries. The girl let the gun fall silent, only the clicking of the rotating cylinders remained. Then it too fell quiet as the door slammed shut. The girl spun around, her clothing shifting once more, and as she completed the turn she was a Medic once more; the crossbow held tightly in her hands. He could see both a gash and a blooming bruise on her left cheekbone that was only partially obscured by the fall of her coal black hair. Her jacket was covered in dirt, dust, and specks of blood…but in that moment she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
"Doctor!" Spy snapped looking first to Medic then to the Girl. "Stop staring and help!"
It was, however, fairly ideal that Medic had his attention fixed on the girl as he absently healed the Sniper's leg wound. If not the fall might have injured her further.
He swung the medi-gun up, easily catching the rest hook at the side, and grabbed her under the arms. There was a brief second where he thought she might only need a steadying hand, then her eyes rolled back and her full weight came down into his hands as her knees buckled. As she fell forward into his chest, he saw the blood drenching the back of her jacket. His eyes narrowed as he shifted his stance to bring his right arm under her knees. He swept her into a bridal style carry as he turned toward the hallway on his left.
"SNIPER…SPY!" He roared. "Vhat in the vorld vere you two thinking? She's bleeding out und you are vorried about a klein wound?!"
Sniper and Spy exchanged looks as Medic stormed down the hallway toward his office and clinic. The Girl's Pyro and Soldier trailed behind him, talking rapidly to themselves. The two mercenaries wordlessly debated following, when Medic's angry voice thundered back down the hallway.
"Get down here you Dummkopfs! I need details!"
They rushed after the group as Medic's thunderous insults fell into a smattering of German that the two men only understood about every third word of.
