That night, each mercenary fell into routine, gestures that had once brought comfort but were now just going through the motions.

Pyro took apart their flamethrower, silent as they ever got as they sat alone in the armory, examining every piece for imperfections, for wear that might need replacing sometime soon. Then, they put it all back together, pulled the trigger, and watched a blossom of flame shoot out the end. They thought of the gaping void in their room, of yearning black depths, and a rabbit Alice had once followed, down, down.

Soldier lay in his bunk, and stared at the ceiling, unblinking. He thought of the Administrator's announcement, how—even after hours of gabbing at each other—not a single other mercenary had mentioned what he had noticed. He had stood there, anticipating, but there wasn't an ounce of suspicion passed among them. Soldier knew he thought different things sometimes, heard the same things but put them together in ways that everyone said made him crazy. So he hadn't commented, had waited for someone else to bring it up. When no one did, he'd started to get that feeling, the creep in the back of his mind telling him that his mind was wrong and that everything he knew was just bits and bobs waiting for just the faintest scrutiny to fall apart. But then! Then the Administrator had spoken again, there at the canyon peak, and this time he was listening for it. He pulled his favorite rocket launcher closer to his chest, and thought about her voice.

On the roof, Sniper stared blankly at the gorge, refusing to look up at the lip of the wall's face. His skin felt taut, like a dam with something heavy behind it, pushing against his sinuses. Demo found him like that, just staring, and silently offered him a drink. He took it gratefully.

Medic, in his infirmary, prepared for the autopsy.

Just outside the infirmary, Heavy looked in, and shook his head hopelessly.

Engineer, for his part, was awoken by the sound of sheets shifting. "Alright," he said quietly, having only been on the barest edges of sleep. "What is it?"

Spy paused, already sitting up with his legs off the edge of the bed. "What is what?"

"Whatever it is you want to talk about." Engineer sat up too, back cold against the metal frame that supported his workshop cot, not helped as the feeble blanket slid off his bare chest.

"Who is to say I want to talk about anything?" Spy was already partially dressed, his white undershirt slipped back over his thin frame. He was facing away from the Engineer, but Engie could see the tension in his shoulders, the curl from his spine to the base of his skull.

"Because if you want to sneak out of bed without waking me, you do," Engie said simply. "The only time I ever notice is because you want me to. So what is it?"

Spy didn't speak again, but Engineer was nothing if not a patient man. He propped up a pillow so he was comfortable, watching as Spy lit a cigarette and mulled over the first distracted puff.

"I am leaving now," Spy said suddenly, as though getting the words out quickly would make them less damning.

"Leaving?" Engineer exclaimed. "Where the hell to?"

"RED base. We must know what they're planning if we are to have any chance in this now." Spy looked over his shoulder, a curl of his graying hair dropping over his eye in the dim light. "We are at too great a disadvantage now to not be proactive, and I am the only one equipped to find something that might give us an edge."

"One man down isn't the end of the world Spy."

But even as he said it, Engie doubted his own conviction. They were an evenly matched set, RED and BLU, and even when someone so much as came down with a cold the slight tip in the scales often meant the difference between victory and defeat. Losing Scout well…that was a more than 10% decrease in efficiency, and any engineer could tell you what just 10% could do.

"Only if we factor luck in," Spy said.

"Still, I thought we agreed going after RED was a terrible idea," Engie put in, feeling he was losing the argument, and Spy, already. "The cameras, the contracts, any of this ringing a bell?"

"Scout proved that just because we know we are monkeys in a cage, doesn't make us any less of them." The bitterness in Spy's voice was nearly as acrid as the smoke. "We cannot leave. Our every motion is watched. If they are willing to kill us so easily, our only choice may be to dance to their tune for the foreseeable future."

Engineer watched the sorrow in his face, and felt a tug in his gut. He slid forward, placing a hand flat against Spy's back. "About Scout…"

There was a short silence from the Spy, before finally he said, "I do not wish to talk about it."

Engineer nodded, but didn't take away his hand.

Spy returned to his cigarette, and his train of thought. "Also, there is the factor that—if this is some sort of game as we have suspected—they may grow bored with us if we refuse to play. Perhaps, they may even create some sort of…instigation of their own."

"Like what?"

"I do not want to guess," Spy said. "Only that it may be even more unpleasant than our current situation."

Engie mulled on that. No one had killed each other yet, even under direct orders, but that could change at any moment. Spy was making a lot of sense. Engie hated when he did that, especially when he used making sense to justify doing something downright stupid.

"But why do you have to go over there?" he said. "Into that viper's nest? Can't you just…dammit. Can't you just not go running off for five minutes?"

Spy looked him sadly in the eyes. "Because it is my job, mon cher ."

"But-"

"Dell." And dammit, Engie hated when he did that too. "My purpose here is to be a spy. When this turns into a direct fight between the two sides of this canyon, my skills would become of no consequence anyway—I must try to be as helpful as I can before it comes to that. So yes, it is a risk, but the rest of you are too essential too be taking said risk."

A fluttering roused itself in Engie's chest. "You ain't… expendable , Spy."

There was something at the corner of Spy's eye, that drop of doubt that he hid so well Engineer sometimes thought he was crazy for seeing it at all. Spy's hand found its way to Engie's cheek. "Do not worry. I will do everything in my power to make sure as many of us survive this as we can."

"And you're doing that by sneaking out in the middle of the night."

Spy shook his head. "The team would attempt to stop me if I informed them. However." He took a breath. "I am not so reckless as to let no one know where I am going. If I am not back by morning…I ask that you inform them what has become of me. So they do not make the same mistakes I did."

"Hell Spy, you can't ask me that." The fluttering grew only stronger, like a gale in Engie's ribcage. It hurt. It hurt knowing Spy would put him through this. "If you're going, I'm comin' with."

"You are not. You are needed here, in case this plan of mine goes afoul. It is only for insurance," Spy insisted, like that would help, like that would take the possibility out of the Engineer's head. "Please, Engineer."

Engie sighed deeply. Spy knew he would say yes, that's why he'd asked him and no one else. Sometimes, Engineer hated being so damn predictable. "Alright. But you better be back by morning, you hear?"

Spy placed a hand over his heart. "On my word."

And then he got up to gather the rest of his suit.

Sentries littered the path to RED base, a mess of beeping, malevolent sightlines that turned the area below the massive radar dish into an invariable maze. Spy spat. His first instinct, to sap them all, was about as foolish as ideas came unless he wanted everyone to know exactly who was attacking them before he'd even set foot in the door. No, he'd have to leave them, and consequently have them at his back when he finally did get inside. The wall of killer machines. He was not looking forward to extraction.

As he pondered his disguise under invisibility, a prickle rose at the back of his spine, the sound of a footstep few but his highly trained ears could detect. He sighed. "I thought I told you not to follow me, mon cher ?"

There was a soft hesitation, the barest intake of breath, and then Engineer stepped out from the rock he'd been hiding behind. "Sorry Spy. You know me."

He was in full uniform, had even brought his weapons along, as conspicuous as they were. If caught, Spy could at least feign being unarmed, but there was no way to hide the double barrel strapped to the Engineer's back.

Spy ran a hand tiredly down his face. "A noble gesture, but you have joined me at the exact point where you will no longer be able to follow." Spy indicated the near brood of sentries blocking their path.

Engie whistled as he walked up to Spy's vantage point. "Wooee. Gunna bust on through 'em?"

"Preferably no," Spy said, rifling through his disguises again. "This is an espionage only mission, I would rather be in and out without them even knowing I was there."

"Mm. Makes sense, I suppose. But you really don't want to take the chance to remove one of 'em from the equation?"

"Only if they force my hand," Spy said, taking another glance. He grumbled. "I don't like this. They're already stockpiling. If the rules are out the window, perhaps you should be doing the same."

Engie paused. "Maybe I should be."

"I truly hope they're not planning to attack tonight, though with the amount they've invested in defense, my nerves are somewhat settled. I doubt we'd be ready if they decided to attack in force."

"You think?"

Spy was still facing the sentries, combing them over with a careful eye, and thus when a frown passed quickly across his features the Engineer could not see it. The expression was gone in an instant, and he turned to offer a smile.

"I do." He casually strolled closer. "And what about you, my friend? What do you think of our chances?"

"Aw shucks," Engineer said. "Real sweet of you, always asking what I think."

The casual flirtation only spiked Spy's heart rate all the higher, but he wasn't yet close enough- "Of course," a motion so casual to lay a hand on Engie's shoulder- "Why wouldn't I?"

He then watched as his hand passed partway through the Engineer's arm.

Spy dodged the incoming knife, rolling to the side, back crashing forcefully against red stone for cover. The second swing was at his head, chipping a shard of stone that nicked his ear as he flipped his own balisong into his hand.

If there had been any doubt that this was not the Engineer, it would have been clear by that expression: a single lip curled in a snarl, teeth bared in anticipation. Still in Engineer's voice he chuckled, "Nearly twenty-eight seconds, pardner . Seems you're only getting worse, these days."

Snarling himself, Spy lunged, slashing at the retreating Engineer. He dodged it easily, and began to laugh, only for Spy's free hand to swing up over the disguise's head where he knew the true weak point would be. The RED Spy staggered, illusion finally dissipating.

He wiped a string of spittle that the punch to his jaw had knocked loose. "Clever. Let us dance then."

Spy saw the RED reach for his breast pocket, and thought fast enough to draw back into cover. However, when the shot came, it didn't crack into the rock Spy had dodged behind. Instead, when Spy peeked his head over in confusion, he saw his doppelganger pointing his weapon at the sky, gun smoking.

His time allotted for perplexed wondering was cut short as the RED smirked and lowered his weapon at Spy's head. The second shot pinged where he'd been a moment before.

Spy spun his own revolver, his mind picking through possibilities. He was in the poorer position for a firefight, and close range was out of the question. He could flee, relying on his watch, but he would be extremely vulnerable in the seconds it would take to activate. Somehow that bastard had gotten in between him and the route back, pinning Spy against the network of sentries he very much did not want to walk into.

He decided on the watch, flickering to life just as the RED rounded the corner. It was too late though, as the RED made a snap decision and ran forward, jamming in his elbow and sending them both to the ground, fizzling out the attempt. There would be a deep bruise over his kidney when this was all over. Spy managed to get a hand around the RED's neck, knife finding purchase in something , but the victory was short lived. As soon as their inertia ceased, Spy heard the telltale beep beep beep of a sentry targeting system.

" Merde ," he hissed, but had no choice but to roll them both over, the roaring patter of the bullets missing him by inches.

Now the RED had the advantage, bleeding from his shoulder and trying to make enough space to bring his gun between the two of them. Spy had no intention of letting him. He flicked his knife up, jamming it into the RED's hand, a precision strike he by all accounts should not have made. He took the RED's scream as distraction, using the opportunity to roll them again.

This time landing on top, with his knife at the RED Spy's throat.

"Like I said," Spy breathed heavily. "Only if you force my hand."

"Well done," the RED panted. Every word pressed the knife a little more tightly against the thin fabric of his mask. "Engaging, a few interesting tricks, but you took far too long to disarm me. I think now is where you tell me what BLU has been up to?"

Spy snorted. "I think not. You have an interesting idea of who will be asking the questions here."

The RED smiled.

Something cold pressed against the base of Spy's skull. "Knife down, pally."

Spy didn't need to turn his head to recognize the RED Scout's distinctive cadence, and his mind flickered to minutes ago when the RED had fired a single shot in the air. A sounded alarm. He cursed himself quietly for not realizing it sooner, simultaneously skimming through options again. Under normal circumstances, he could maybe take the chance on turning and disarming the Scout, especially if he was fool enough to threaten a hostage at point blank range, but one look at the RED below him told him it would get him nowhere. He couldn't outmaneuver both of them with the other Spy watching him like a hawk.

Regretfully, his fingers loosened around the butterfly knife, and he raised his hands.

"Yeah yeah, that's what I thought," Scout said as Spy slowly got off his counterpart, putting his hands behind his head.

The RED wasted no time in retrieving his own revolver, reloading it with an air of nonchalance as he told Scout, "It took you long enough. If not for the BLU, I might have died of old age." As he said it, he glanced at the large blood splatter that had gotten on his suit.

"Hey, I came as fast as I could!" Scout complained. "And how 'bout a 'thanks Scout'? A 'thanks for saving my life, Scout'? A 'thanks for keeping my stupid French butt from getting shanked, Scout'? A-"

" Thank you , Scout," the RED said. "That will be all."

Any hopes of making a break for it were dashed as the RED Pyro jogged into the scene. Quietly, Spy had been toying with the idea of using the Scout's apparent distraction to try for his invisi-watch, but that last and final plan was ash now; he was truly at these REDs' mercy.

The Pyro mumbled something, and the RED Spy said, "I am honestly astounded Scout did not just shoot him. He is not known for his restraint."

"Hey!"

Again, Pyro mumbled something, and again the RED Spy responded, his eyes falling on the BLU now trapped like a rabbit amongst wolves. "Oh," he smiled. "Of course we're not killing him. My friends, the key to victory had just fallen into our laps."