The dispenser was humming, they were missing two prisoners and a Pyro, and Soldier was the closest thing to out of commission Engie had ever seen him. He was hunched over the RED, still as a statue, occasionally muttering something but never to the Engineer. On one of the several passes after he'd finished the dispenser but before he'd gotten Bidwell back on the line, he'd seen over the broad shoulders that both Soldier's hands were clasped around the RED's. It made Engie's brows knit together with more than concern.
"So," he said once he had the connection up and running again. He sat a short distance from the microphone, but he didn't worry much about being overheard. "This Grey Mann fella you've been talking about. He's the one who set us up?"
"Um, well no," Bidwell said through the fuzz. "Grey is…also dead."
Engie sighed. "Why don't you start at the beginning."
He listened. When the picture began to clear from faint ideas to robots and Australium and corporate takeovers, he began to think while Bidwell talked. After all that was done and he needed some fresh air, he had to settle for walking the tunnels while he processed it all.
"Still no sign of Pyro," he said upon his return.
Soldier stirred. Blinked at him. "What?"
"Pyro," Engie said through gritted teeth. "He hasn't come back from…whatever the hell you sent him out to do."
"…Scouring for rations," Soldier replied, but it lacked his usual gusto.
Engie half wished the RED hadn't made it. At least then the meager attention span Soldier had would be focused on the task at hand, instead of…whatever the hell was wrong with him.
As if sensing Engie's thoughts, the RED Demoman stirred, just to spite him. He blinked open his eye to find the BLUs staring down at him, his back propped against a semi-functional dispenser. To his credit, he didn't flinch back, just glared, waiting for one of them to make a move.
"Don't need to give us any 'a that," Engie pointed out reasonably. "After all, weren't a BLU that turned your insides to confetti, was it?"
Soldier didn't chime in with anything helpful. He only directed the front curve of his helmet at the RED, his version of an empty stare. At this point, Engie would've settled for his incomprehensible rantings if only it meant he was engaged with current events.
The Demoman cautiously looked between them both, then glanced over his shoulder at the dispenser. "…Thanks, I suppose."
"No trouble." Actually, It'd been a pain in the ass convincing it to work on a RED, but civility still held even in times like these. "And maybe take that under consideration. We got a new mission statement, and I'd like to have at least one other person who's not considering shooting me in the back when we set out from here."
"We're leaving?" Soldier asked, at the same time Demo said, "New mission?"
The RED was trying to leverage himself to his feet, using the dispenser as a support. It could have been going better. Even with Engie's modifications, the contraption was only chugging along at a fraction of its usual healing rate.
"Mann Co.'s been very helpful." Engie held up the PDA he'd been tinkering on for the past few hours. "With their intel and me being on scene, I've been able to track down the signal that's been sending out the bot commands. We locate it, we shut it down, and the bots keeping us trapped here lose all higher processes."
"They shut down?" the Demoman asked. Good. He had one foot on board, and Engie knew he wasn't going to be able to disable whatever defenses the servers had on his own.
"No, but without a local transmitter hub, they're dumber than a box of rocks. Whatever's left of RED and BLU, they should be able to fight their way out no trouble. Assuming they have more than two brain cells to rub together."
Demo glanced down the hall. Engie didn't miss that it was the way the other pair of REDs had run.
"…We will be taking the fight to her," Soldier said slowly. "Smashing their command center. Taking a shovel to their monument of chrome and deception!"
"Not…exactly. According to this," Engie shook the PDA again. "There's at least two signals transmitting. We got a lot of work ahead of us, but the closest one is that way." He pointed.
"…And Pyro?" Soldier asked.
"Pyro's a grown man, he can take care of himself." Engie blew hot air out of his nose. "As he likes to remind me. We don't got time to look for 'im, and if he comes back I left a note so he knows where we're headed."
"This company vowed to stick together-"
"Might I remind you that you're the one who sent him off," Engie growled. Despite his statements to the contrary, it did bother him that the firebug was wandering around alone down here, and he didn't need another excuse to be sick of Soldier. "So. If our RED friend here agrees to work together for the time being…?"
"If it'll end this nightmare faster, aye, I'm in." Oddly enough, the wary glance he cast was aimed at Soldier, not Engie. The Engineer thought that to be a grave misjudgment.
Soldier frowned one final time, but made no more protest.
Engie didn't know if it was lucky or unlucky that they didn't stumble over any other REDs on their way out of the tunnels. When he thought about it, there could technically be any number of REDs still out there, with only two confirmed dead and just one who was non-hostile for the time being. The upside: BLU base was probably safe for as long as the REDs were split and scattered. Downside: there could be an ambush waiting in any one of these tunnels. Considering Demo's efforts with his Scout, Engie didn't trust his ability to talk anyone down from opening fire.
"Any idea what this command center is going to be like?" Demo asked as they made their first step out onto the surface.
"Well defended, I reckon," Engie said. "And, if I ain't too turned around by these damn gopher-holes, the signal 's putting it right where Powerhouse should be."
"It's at a whole 'nother map?"
"Powerhouse connects up to Hydro actually. Near RED's side of Hyrdo there's this dam-"
"Not one step further!"
Alarm crawled up Engie's spine as it stiffened, the anticipated ambush falling over them like a shadow. They were out of the tunnels but still in the gorge, only a sliver of black-velvet sky above them. The demand had come from a lip of rock not too far from that sky, the barrel of a gun just visible in the moonlight. But the voice that had called to them had been so laced with authority, it carried with it a potent sense of familiarity…
"…Engineer?"
And then, like the sweetest chorus of the heavens, the BLU Spy poked his head up over the rocks.
"Spy?" Engie was too surprised, too relieved to say more than that.
That relief was mirrored in Spy's face for only a moment, before it cracked again and she shouted, "Wait, wait ," to something over Engie's shoulder.
He turned, and immediately stumbled back. The RED Heavy was mere inches from him, looming up behind with his fists raised. How such a giant man had snuck up without a sound Engie had no idea, but at Spy's warning his face dropped its look of murderous intent.
Engie heard the sliding of rocks behind him, turned to see Spy gingerly supporting himself as he made his way to the other survivors. Engie could hear the greeting of Heavy! You made it you bloody bastard but none if it could penetrate through the beating in his skull. The rhythmic pounding that Spy was alive, alive , the thing he hadn't even let himself hope. Nothing could have stopped him from closing the last few feet and wrapping him in a hug.
"Spy I…Jesus you look terrible."
Holding him at arm's length to see his suit was barely holding together, that there were scabs and burn marks and who knew what else. His hand…Engineer took Spy's hand, examining where the fingers had been cut at the knuckle, holding them gently between his own robotic ones.
"…Much has happened since we last spoke."
And by God his eyes…there was a look in them that twisted something deep in Engie's gut. Spy should never have that look on his face. It was unacceptable.
"Spy…darlin'…" Engie reached up and put both palms on the side of his face. "Don't you ever pull that on me again, ya hear?"
It was too much to put into one accusation. The leaving. The going out there and getting hurt.
A wry smile tugged at Spy's lips. He pressed his forehead against Engineer's. "I hear. I promise, I will do my best."
It didn't matter if anyone was listening. He was just so glad to have him back.
"But," Spy said, pulling away. "If you are here, I must beg something of you. A dispenser, and we must hurry."
"A'Course, a'course," Engie said looking him over. "I can get you fixed up faster than-"
"Not for me."
Demo had been at his father's sickbed in those last few months. It'd been a terrible sanity drain on anything that resembled hope, a sponge for things that made you want to go on living. In many ways, sitting next to Pyro while a pathetic little dispenser chugged away reminded him a lot of those days, but with Heavy instead of his mother opposite him.
The fever twisted, and Pyro squirmed in their sleep like a wrung washcloth. An infection had been blooming in them ever since Spy had shot them, which Demo still couldn't believe.
"I mean, he was a right bastard, but to blow up the whole base? Just to get at Engie? Doesn't sound right…"
Demo shook his head. He wished he had a drink right now. Granted, he wished he'd had a drink through a lot of this, not the least bit the part where Soldier…
He didn't even know. He couldn't go down that road again. The man was a liar by nature, and had been sequestering himself with his teammates ever since they'd settled down here at the dam. Despite now being a joint venture, RED and BLU had been happy to break up into their own little parties once they weren't forced to co-mingle; Engineer had grumbled that he was building far too many dispensers for REDs these days, finished up the machine, and left. The BLU Spy trailed after him, hesitating only a moment to glance at Pyro. It disconcerted Demo to think he'd seen genuine concern on the enemy's face.
"Where'd Spy go?" Pyro mumbled. Again.
Heavy grunted. "Heavy take care of little Pyro for hours. By bed all the time. And all she asks for is Spy."
"Mm." Pyro turned over in their half awake state. "Heavy. Don't forget to give Demo back his sword."
They were far easier to understand out of the mask, even with a face partially devoured by a pillow.
Demo perked at the statement. "My sword?"
"Da." Begrudgingly, Heavy reached under the bed and began to rummage aside supplies. A moment later, he withdrew the Claidheamh Mòr. "Pyro finds it earlier."
"Ach you poor thing!" Demo said as it was laid in his hands. "I've been looking everywhere for this. Must have been lying here since the last time we were stationed at Hydro."
The small bunkroom fell into silence. Demo pondering his reunited weapon, Pyro muttering as the dispenser did battle with the infection. Heavy staring out the singular window, watching the BLUs as they held their own catch-up.
"Still doesn't make sense to me."
"Mm?" Heavy glanced from the window to look at Demo.
"Just…how would Spy have gotten at the tanks anyway?" Demo mused, setting his sword in his lap. "The only access pipes were in the workshop. Engie and Medic would've seen him if he was fiddling with 'em right there."
Heavy straightened. "Access pipes."
"Aye. Y'know. Ones that were connected to the base's natural gas? Honestly that place was a bloody safety nightmare, even for the stuff RED usually throws at us."
"You know this. How."
"I always take a walk about, see what sort of structural weaknesses we're dealing with. Usually there's a lot."
"You. Are looking for ways to blow up our base?"
Demo raised his hands. "Oi! It's my bloody job! You haul around a rotary machine gun that weighs twice as much as me, and I figure out how to make buildings fall down."
Heavy shook his head. "Nothing. Does not matter. Demoman was talking about access pipes?"
"Eh? Oh, right. Well when you were describing it, I was thinking he busted open one of the pipes and chucked a lit match down it. Though he couldn't've, everywhere else in the building the pipes have to start going horizontal—he'd have to have been in either the workshop or the infirmary if he wanted to get a straight shot."
Heavy froze, every movement from him expelled, carving sharp contrast as Pyro breathed beside him. "Infirmary."
"Aye, one of those two. Still a little close for comfort but…" Demo trailed off, realizing what Heavy had. "That's where we were keeping the BLU Spy, weren't we."
Another glance out the window, and Demo followed Heavy's gaze this time.
"You don't think…" Demo asked.
"He…he was one who accused Spy. Made Heavy think…" Heavy glanced down at his hands.
"Hey, hey it's nae your fault big guy," Demo said, sweeping around to stand next to Heavy's chair. He placed a hand on his shoulder. "We're not even sure if that's what really happened."
"You. You did not see . Before Spy fell he…" Heavy closed his eyes. Then, his fists curled in his lap and they snapped open again. "Engineer. Medic. Spy. All his doing."
Just outside, the Engineer and Soldier were arguing while Spy rubbed his head. Heavy stood. Heavy stood, and Demo knew there was nothing he was going to do to stop this. Left foot right foot stomp stomp stomp across the outer yard of the base, Demo trailing along, sentences beginning with maybe falling short before they even reached their crescendo.
"You."
Spy was slightly apart from the other two. Heavy halted in front of him.
"You. The gas fire."
"I…" The BLU Spy looked like he was hardly standing. His voice clattered when he spoke and Demo felt his despair sink deeper. "I don't know what you-"
"Do not. Lie. To Heavy."
And could anyone withstood those circumstances?
"It. It was an accident, I only meant to cause a diversion, I did not know-"
Heavy's hand closed around his throat before he finished. Even as Heavy shoved him backwards with one singular fist, Spy's knife came out, quick as lightning, unleashing a series of jabs into Heavy's forearm. Where had he even gotten the knife? Taken from his RED counterpart's corpse?
The remaining BLUs reacted slowly. Too slowly. Heavy was barely impeded by the attack on his arm, only releasing a low snarl of pain as pinned Spy against the crumbled wall and slammed him backwards into the concrete. The second time he did it, it was over a jutting piece of rebar. There was enough force in his blow that it went clean through Spy's abdomen, and he screamed a howl of pure torture.
Now the BLUs were moving. Engineer was yelling something, panicked and incomprehensible, and he unloaded every round he had into the Heavy. It clicked empty quickly; not so long ago he'd been firing at a different RED's back. With the cartridge spent he didn't even think, and drove at Heavy with his wrench out.
A few pistol shots couldn't stop the Heavy Weapon's Guy. A fucking bullet train couldn't stop the Heavy Weapon's Guy. He turned around and caught Engineer's arm mid-swing, leaving Spy to hang by his own skewer, squeezing until Engie's wrist snapped sideways. The Engineer screamed in pain, but he was within Heavy's power now, and received the same treatment as Spy: Heavy slammed him down into the ground. Once. Twice. The third time, through kicking, through screaming, through safety helmet all, there was the sound of skull cracking against stone.
The faint, "No…" from the Spy could barely be heard around the mouthfuls of blood shooting up from his throat as Heavy released a completely lifeless Engineer from his grasp.
Why Soldier hadn't yet taken a shot was unclear. Maybe he hadn't kept it loaded during the long journey from BLU base, maybe he hadn't wanted to risk hitting a teammate in the crossfire; whatever the reason, it was a shovel and not a rocket that came barreling at Heavy a second after it was too late to help. Heavy didn't even bother catching the blow this time. He simply turned and snapped out a hand, closing around Soldier's throat, letting the sharpened edge of the shovel cleave him in the shoulder. Then, he lifted, waiting until Soldier's feet were off the ground.
Then, he began to squeeze.
It takes a lot longer to strangle someone than you would expect. A well-practiced individual can hold their breath for minutes before asphyxiation—a Soldier with a heart beating wildly and two teammates dying at his feet has significantly less than that. After a few seconds, he dropped his grip on his shovel, opting to try prying the impossibly strong grip with both of his hands. A few seconds after that, he resorted to banging on the viselike with balled fists. None of his teammates were rising to save him. The Engineer immobile, the Spy gone slack. His mouth was open and gaping, desperately trying to suck in air that wouldn't come, his helmet fallen off and revealing his blue eyes as they began to bulge out of his head.
Soldier's feet stopped kicking right as a longsword appeared in Heavy's chest.
Demo couldn't see Heavy's expression as the weapon cleaved through him. Shock, he imagined. Betrayal maybe. He hadn't seen Heavy's face since he'd turned around to face Soldier, but what had been there was fury—fury, and unimaginable pain.
Heavy collapsed to the ground, releasing Soldier from his grasp, both bodies falling onto the red-dusted concrete. Demo had pulled the Claidheamh Mòr free but that was the last effort his arms could take, and he fell to his hands and knees next to the scattering of once-people. His first instinct was to reach for Heavy's wrist, resting so close to him, as though it were reaching out and begging him to check its pulse. But no. Heavy's eyes were open and blank. There wasn't anything that would do, and even though Demo only wanted to place a hand over it to say he was sorry, he felt unworthy to do so. He didn't deserve to ask for forgiveness. A backstabber in its truest form.
There was one other corpse on this playing field though. Demo didn't care about the other BLUs, except maybe to see the Spy dead. He had been the one to start this whole mess after all, who'd forced Demo to turn on one of the few people he had left.
But one of these bodies…the one who apparently still mattered enough that Demo was willing to carve off his own honor with a knife, was lying just a few feet away.
Demo knew what he would find before he checked. This was how the story ended after all, after he'd crossed every line and proved himself a monster. There was no happy ending after this. These awful, twisting, unsaid things that had always been writhing between them would remain confined to the past, and he would never know why Soldier said the things that he did. What he meant.
But. There are miracles. And when Demo pressed two fingers against Soldier's bruised throat he found a faint and flicking pulse.
The sound that escaped him was not a sob. His eye was wet enough, but the choking that accompanied it was more an expression of deflation than relief. There was hope still. Always hope. He gathered Soldier into his arms, and began the long, staggering walk toward the base.
It was good Pyro wasn't awake when he tucked Soldier as close to the dispenser as he could. He didn't know how he was going to explain it, or explain the fresh sheen of Heavy's blood on the front of his uniform. Funny that. How he'd been holding a grudge against Scout ever since he'd woke up, when he was no better.
The scene had changed by the time he got back outside. Somehow, the Spy had managed to free himself from the rebar that had punctured him, an incredible feat even when one wasn't bleeding out. A trail of blood led from the spot on the wall to where he had dragged himself, now crouched over the Engineer and cradling his head even as his own wounds spilled blood across them both. There were no visible wounds on Engineer. That didn't stop Spy from patting him over as he murmured things in rapid French, as though trying to hold in his life force with his hands alone.
When Demo approached, he looked up. "Please," he begged. "Please help him."
"You blew up RED base," Demo said dully. "You started all 'a this."
Spy flinched, averting his eyes. "Please. He is a good man. If someone suffers for what I have done then let it be me. Do not let him die because of my sins."
Demo waited a moment. Then two. "Fine. But just him. You, you go disappear. Bleed out in the hills for all I care."
Spy was nodding before Demo even finished. "You will never see me again I swear. But please hurry, he doesn't have much time."
He crawled out of the way as Demo moved in and lifted the Engineer as he had for the Soldier. The Spy was as good as his word: when Demo next looked out the window, he was gone.