Future Meets the Past

A Team Fortress 2/Typical Colors 2 Crossover Story

Chapter 1: New Beginning


1972 A.D.

Once upon a time, there was a family of four.

Two sons, a father, and a mother. The four of them have lived relatively happy lives recently after having survived the ill-fated Gravel Wars that had been plaguing the world that they, along with everyone else had lived and bore witness to for the past 150 years or so, being forced to live with the consequences that it had wrought upon them and their country. Water had been polluted with traces of mercury in it that had its effects of stripping away the intelligence of their neighboring friends, on top of poisoning them with a slow, painful death.

Not only that, but famines, economic crisis, lack of raw materials and resources, including hearing the news of the last instance of australium being depleted that left several countries, including theirs that utilized it scrambling and collapsing upon themselves, financially, and technologically speaking, all these problems stemmed from the war that had been going on for all of these years.

The city that the family had lived in was in disarray and in poverty by the time the war was finally brought to its closure, the surrounding fauna and forests having been depleted and overexploited of its resources that were used to sustain the people living in the New Mexican region of the United States at the time, which left a giant patch of desert and nothingness for people to live off of, forcing migration from one state to another as the war the Mann Brothers fought over kept expanding beyond New Mexico and to the other states throughout the United States, eventually reaching out to the outer continents after a while around the globe that also felt its effects, but not as much as what happened throughout America.

To say that the war had taken a toll on everyone would be an understatement, and by the time it was finally deemed over, people around the globe wanted to help fix up the damage that the war between the Reliable Excavation Demolition and Builders League United companies had caused everyone around them, even when both companies merged into one under the thumb of Saxton Hale that led Mann Co.. Several families, business owners and even politicians around America began movements in order to restore nature herself to her former glory around the continent they held so dearly to themselves, with one family in particular that had lived under these trying times since the start of the Gravel Wars.

This family, stemming all the way back in the mid-1800s and having suffered through generations of generations of the constant fighting between the two brothers, was willing to save the numerous patches of land that they, and their neighboring families used to call home. They wanted to restore it back to what it used to be before the war even started, themselves starting a movement that gained significance over the span of a few weeks. How did they manage to gain this attention to begin with?

It was simple: For every 25 cents that was given to their charity, they would use that money to buy gallons of water, fill up holes around the land they dug through, then plant a tree in the region next to water that was safe to drink that wasn't laced with mercury. Along with making their pastures a greener place for everyone to live in, they did their best effort of giving people clean, natural drinking water once more, to hopefully using the money given to them by the people who had faced similar problems as they did to restore their crops, greens and trees that the Mann Brothers had taken from them in exchange for their selfish use over gravel.

This movement in particular ended up being a booming success for the family, starting off with local newspapers, eventually spreading through not only word and mouth, but through magazine articles, too, eventually becoming an attraction as the family throughout the years began collecting a chunk of cash that was more than able to sustain them and their new jobs and livelihoods.

They first started with the regions around America where the Gravel Wars had impacted them most, now just dustbowls and badlands that were in desperate need of restoration, then expanding upon their business to the rest of the world after they've fixed up a significant portion of the continent that they lived on.

These were the humble origins of the family company that helped kickstart the restoration of the world left behind after the Gravel Wars and the disbanding of the mercenaries that made up the BLU, RED and Mann Co. companies.

Their name: Gerhardt & Radisson Natural, named after the sons' parents' family names.
It was a company situated in New Mexico near the Badlands, which was dedicated to regrowing the planet with trees and greener pastures, expanding the scope of their horizons onto bigger and more complicated projects the more of the world they managed to save from what the Gravel Wars had inflicted on everyone, not just them, or the people that had to live under the terrors of war.

The Gravel Wars were an interesting time period, though, the way it ended remains a mystery even to the present day. No one for sure knows what happened during the final year of the war when the brothers just suddenly stopped fighting each other and were seemingly murdered without a trace for anyone to document, with the 9 mercenaries for both RED and BLU that took part in the war having had such world-changing effects on everyone around them.

Some say that each of the mercenaries went their own separate ways, leaving behind their companies to live out the rest of their lives in relative peace and solitude, started a new family, or went to start their own companies with those that they had formed close, tight bonds with.

Mann Co., as a result of the Gravel Wars ending, had to be closed down. The resource of australium had gone extinct during the war, and with no one else to make weapons, items or hat-wear, clothes or cosmetics for anyone to use while enduring throughout the Gravel Wars, and the legacy of the Mann Brothers now laid to rest, the CEO of the company, Saxton Hale, officially retired himself from his position to spend the rest of his time with the love of his life, their love's name rumored to be named Maggie.

It remains unknown as to what happened with him after all of this. Some crave his comeuppance for the killing of several hippies that protested against the Gravel Wars around the time he was the CEO of the Mann Co. company, but by the time it was said and done, and when Gerhardt & Radisson Natural was established around a year later of its closure, he and his partner were unable to be traced, and were left in complete mystery as to where they went off to. Some say they went to the Australian outback, some say they hid themselves to continue their hobby of punching out the most dangerous predators found on the Earth, or maybe even both.


1997 A.D.

Two and a half decades had gone by since the founding of the company, and the planet was progressing steadily well in terms of recovery from the war. Many others have started following and supporting the movement and were following in the Gerhardt family's footsteps, planting trees and allowing nature to do her work around the world of their own, the family having created tools, machinery and varying items dedicated to the restoration of the world that the Gravel Wars had caused that were exported from the family, whom by this point had been lucky enough to get their business going to become well-renowned among many other companies of the United States.

One of the two sons, Thomas, had grown up for his love of animals and nature ever since new fauna and animals were reintroduced to what used to be a barren desert, now lush, grassy plains that now made up their restored country, as well as learning of the horrors of war and animal abuse during his childhood.

He was more than willing to preserve and inherit his father's legacy after their death untimely death from accidental mercury poisoning that caused him to start having episodes and strokes that often times were fatal, doing as much as he could to help restore nature around the planet that had been significantly damaged through all of the damage, deforestation across the continent, as well as aiding injured animals he, or any company member of his came across, or rescuing animals that had been held in small cages in captivity, as well as annually hosting protests against the industry of war, deforestation and overhunting of animals in several continents across the globe on two separate months.

Everything seemed to be going well for the young, aspiring man. Although, while Thomas' intentions were good from his point of view, it was met with criticism across the globe from people in favor of the killings of animals and those that enjoyed consuming meat, alongside those that wanted to bring back the industrial revolution and urbanization across the American continent.

In response to this, Thomas Gerhardt, with help from his mother, did his best to quell the criticism directed towards their company, with explanations and reasons for why they had to do what they were doing in order to restore the world back to how it used to be before the Mann Brothers ruined everything, and while some were convinced by his arguments, others found that his company, especially after Thomas inherited it from his father, wasn't actually doing much to restore the economy of New Mexico back to its former glory. The lack of meat from the meat industry, due to GRN's message about the anti-carnivore approach having become so widespread across the states to it almost being a doctrine nowadays severely crippled it, or the weapons industry going kaput, since the weapons were being looked down on by many after the war that had taken place there. Clearly, there was something wrong, here.

And it wouldn't be too long before someone close to Thomas would have their way with the businessman in charge of the company, who was spreading all of this unneeded anti-hunting, anti-meat and anti-industrial messages to everyone that brang the American state to the status it currently has and suffers from. Even back during the Gravel Wars, the industries were viable and helpful to the New Mexican state. It was profitable and sustainable, as the local war and weapons industry was booming with money and profit, especially since Mann Co. was one of the biggest companies back in the day, consistently scoring on the Top 5 businesses throughout the world prior to the extinction of australium.

Reginald Gerhardt, considering themselves a realist that lived underneath his brother's shadow, felt like it was his birthright to have taken his father's heritage instead of having Thomas be the one selected by his father to take over the company.

To him, seeing how extreme their brother would go in order to protect the world they and his yes-men cared so much about was not only damaging the economy of their state, but the rest of the United States, as well. Making Thomas the new CEO of the GRN Company was a decision that Reginald did not agree with his father on, warning him that he should be the one to take over the company, due to his brother's ideals being too wide-eyed and naive, as if he was living in a fairy tale where he was the protagonist that was able to overcome any and all evil.

One immediate problem he found with his brother upon him taking over the company, was that bringing up any idea of deforesting an area or landmark for the inclusion of new houses, urbanization, meat production, establishments, restaurants, cafés, anything that would help the economy of their state and the rest of America that went against Thomas', or GRN's ideals would often be rebuked with heavy disapproval that would usually end with an argument between the two brothers during the meeting that, despite their mother's attempts at calming her children down, would sometimes be met with her getting told off and creating an awkward, yet, heated atmosphere among everyone that took part of it.

It was here, where there was created a divide between the two brothers' ideals, including the workers that began picking sides between them, depending on who you asked.

Thomas wanted the world to be as completely natural as is without too much interference from the human race, all in an attempt to completely save the world from the amount of pollution and overpopulation there was throughout the world, coupled with using green, reliable and recyclable energy instead of fossil fuels like oil to prevent the further spread of carbon dioxide in the air. Showing zero approval of wanting to slaughter animals, or trying to prevent the spread of wars, he saw it as nothing more, but damaging the environment around everyone that considered the planet that they live on home.

Reginald, meanwhile, wanted the world to go back to something akin to the Industrial Revolution when it came to how he wanted to advance the company and the society he lived in, gaining as much profit as he can whilst keeping the family business running by any means necessary, despite some of the questionable corner cutting he would have to do to keep it afloat. While he did dislike his brother's views on returning the world back to how it was before the Gravel Wars, he did want to appease the industries that, financially, had unfortunately been bankrupt by the wars ending due to the lack of sales and exporting of weapons and raw materials. To him, everyone deserved a chance to have a well-sustaining and profitable job.

Unfortunately, one day, another argument incited between the two brothers. What made this one different, though, was that it almost ended with it becoming physical between the two, as Reginald vented in frustration in front of his brother and everyone else attending the meeting about his disagreements with his brother's worldview, calling him out on his overly naive view on his ideals, with Thomas giving him the silent, cold treatment in response that ended with Reginald slamming the table before leaving the meeting room.

Reginald was done.

If Thomas wasn't going to listen and continue pursuing his impossible-to-reach goals, Reginald might as well carve out his own future. After some consideration, although, with some hesitation due to his mother trying to persuade him to stay, he ultimately left the company that he was once proudly part. He initially wanted to help the world alongside his family, but ended up becoming neglected when the problems related to the economy, alongside those industries that helped boom the revolution that gave technology a huge leap forward around them once his brother took over as chairman of the company.

In response, Reginald finally decided to fund and kickstart his own company, recruiting those that disagreed or were unsatisfied with Thomas in response to try and counter his own brother's ideals, while trying himself as best as possible to be environmentally friendly, despite the industrialization motif he went with that seemed antithetical with what his company was branded as.

This company ended up being named Reginald's Earthly Discoveries, a company that paid homage to the Reliable Excavation Demolition that made up the team and company that made up the original 9 mercenaries that took part of the Gravel Wars back in the 1970s, and was mainly a company centered around the mining and harvesting of raw materials, cutting up trees, harvesting oil, mining minerals like iron, copper, gold, platinum, and furthering the advancement of his country's technology. This, in Reginald's eyes, was the right thing in order to boost his company into great heights, alongside his country that he, financially speaking, wanted to return from the Gravel Wars era that Thomas had neglected.

Of course, this meant that profit had to be involved in order to keep their company afloat in order to compete against his brother's own company.

The main way Reginald and his company managed to gain profit was from exporting all of their resources, raw materials and food gained from all of the meat and fishing industries around the globe, such as to military and war campaigns, countries in poverty, including other industries related to the urbanization, industrialization and companies dedicated to modernizing the world and bringing forth what could be considered a second industrial boom.

All of these products that were sold that, on their own seemed a bit underwhelming, delivered exactly what all of their consumers wanted when purchasers interested in pursuing their own company's wishes and made tools out of the resources gathered to craft technologically advanced machinery and , and then there was the money that began rolling in that truly brang forth Reginald's company to great heights, almost on par with his brother's.

At first, it was a bit slow. But several years later, it started gaining traction from customers around the world, including the slow, but noticeable recovery of the varying industries that had fallen from grace.


2014 A.D.

A decade and over a half had now gone by since Reginald left GRN, and he, just like his brother, was swimming in money that had been earned through well-executed marketing and selling of his company's resources that he and his team had harvested, rather than donations that he assumed his brother to have been hoarding for himself all these years since he took his father's company. Despite having left his now-aging mother behind for his brother, he'd occasionally invite her over to show her the successes in life that he and his company were been offered, and capitalized on them to push them even further than he, or even his father would have expected.

Now around his 50s like his brother, Thomas Gerhaldt initially didn't mind Reginald's company that much, but he soon saw it becoming a big problem when he noticed that some of his weapons and supplies used to benefit his company's endeavors were one day smuggled without notice, with less and less supplies being delivered to his company each day that would benefit his goals, to a point where his company would get pretty much nothing on some days where they were expecting delivery from other companies associated with GRN, which would have slowed down or delayed their environmental rescue efforts around the globe during some months.

His guards and workers, despite having been hired and being present to safeguard the supplies needed to forward his projects, were inevitably fired when it was revealed through security cameras that they had actually been working for his brother in undercover, whom Thomas had grown to resent over the years the bigger his company became over the years since his depature and ignoring his cease and desist letters to stop his company's projects, but so did his own brother as the talks between the two gradually turned into them making passive-aggressive remarks about one another, and statements that counteracted one another's ideals.

It didn't help, that Reginald also had some of the same issues with Thomas personally sending several of his undercover workers to meddle and sabotage his brother's affairs to halt his company's growth and net gain profits dropping during certain times of the year as what Thomas would label as "payback" for what Reginald did to GRN, which was to be expected from a rival company trying to outcompete them, but not outright plummet and threaten Reginald's company with legal action and bankruptcy during some years, but this was starting to happen more and more frequently the bigger both companies got.

Tensions between GRN and RED were rising exponentially, and the brothers' relations were plummeting faster than they had ever been since their father's passing and Reginald's leaving of GRN, despite their mother pleading them to try and get along more as actual brothers that look out for one another.

Inevitably, at some point, there had to be something that completely destroyed any hope of both brothers ever reconciling in their lives.

What kickstarted it? An attempt that was made on Reginald's life, by none other than Thomas himself through proxy with one of his mercenaries that he had favorably promoted to be their right hand through their loyalty and dedication in an attempt to cover up his company's efforts in ruining his brother's efforts, and to finally snuff out his brother and rival company from hurting his own company any further.

This, however, was ultimately met with failure, as security on Reginald' side had increased drastically with all of these smugglings from the GRN Company, with him having hired a band of mercenaries and security guards on his own, who managed to spot the assassin meant to murder Reginald before they had left the premises, with one of Reginald's own men giving chase and managing to identify the logo as their brother's through a photo that was taken on the night on the assassination attempt. This was what finally demolished any chance of the brothers' relationship to be repaired, as they now knew, that both were out to get one another, whether it be targeting their company, or even their lives.

Wanting to remain safe from one another's attempts at murdering each other, both brothers sought the help of employing a weapons facility company from around 1977 named Fitten Co., happened to be manned by a lifelong friend of the two brothers' father; Joseph Fitten, a man of many talents, considered a master in terms of weaponsmithing and being a strongman that had experience working under the Mann Co. brand back during the Gravel Wars. Joseph, from what the brothers knew from their father's stories, was apparently a prodigy tutored under Saxton Hale in combat after their retirement once the Gravel Wars were over, and the two had a close student-teacher bond with one another.

Using this war between the two brothers would be an ideal boost for his weapons-making company, just like how his mentor capitalized on the two Mann Brothers' idiocy to create a ton of profit for himself and his company, all the while having a blast going on all of these escapades that involved jumping out of a helicopter that was on fire, or going out to punch a yeti and explode it into bloody, red chunks.

Both brothers, through Fitten Co., decided on hiring 9 individual mercenaries for their companies from around the world to fill up the roles that they were going to be assigned for to deal with their rival company, as well as giving them their each assigned weapons of choice from Fitten Co. that they would need to take down one another in the brothers' effort for company supremacy.

These 18 mercenaries were labeled as such upon their acceptance into the mercenary group making up both the GRN and RED teams respectively, which Fitten Co. had written down upon deliverance of the letter to the brothers, Fitten Co. seal intact:


Dear Reginald/Thomas Gerhardt.
As part of your agreement to sign your company up for the Mercenary Group Program in your attempt to destroy one another in your pursuit for company supremacy, I, Joseph Fitten of Fitten Co., have proudly traveled around the world in search for the best possible candidates for the job that you seek to offer them!

Do keep in mind that these people ARE trained killers that have committed several crimes throughout their life, and will do anything for cash or personal benefit. In the scenario a mercenary of yours decides to go rogue on you, your company or your team of mercenaries that you perceive as a danger or liability, do NOT hesitate to call me to take care of them personally, hippie-to-man.

Whatever it is that you do with these people is completely up to you, son of Mr. Gerhardt. Make your father proud, and do what you do best with your company. I'll be sending you the weapons accompanying them the week after they have been transported to your company headquarters.

Now, without further ado, here are the people that will be working underneath your thumbs.

The Flanker.
America, New York
A young, brunette-haired male in their 20s that specializes in quick speed, high stamina and adrenaline that comes from Brooklyn, New York. Has a foul mouth and a love of baseball, sodas and trying their hardest to score any young woman that they set their sights on, constantly trying to outcompete others around them, rather than helping them in the name of family pride. Arrogant, caffeinated and cocky.

The Trooper.
America, Midwestern USA
A middle-aged veteran that had a tight bond with their platoon while serving in the military. Inevitably got reprimanded and punished massively at one point, being demoted to fight as an ordinary soldier in a war, but eventually left military service after being diagnosed with PTSD upon having gone on a violent killing spree that violated war terms during a foreign military campaign.

The Arsonist.
?, Unknown
A robot with artificial intelligence made with a built-in flamethrower and text-to-speech software as a way of communicating with humans around it, created in-house by your company's best engineers to incinerate any work and notes of your rival company's work and evolution to ensure only one of your companies remain prevalent across the globe. No one knows who has made this mechanical flame-walker, but no one has ever been able to recreate the walking inferno designed to destroy the company it's meant to set its eyes on and burn to the ground for your pleasure.

The Annihilator.
Ireland, undetermined Region
An Irishman that served as a loyal and honorable knight to their country that favored the Knight's Code, who ended up in a tragic accident when a plan of theirs backfired that involved the bombing of a Fitten Co. convoy that I, as CEO of the company, personally saw big potential in the man that I am sending your way, with current whereabouts of this incident taking place that will remain disclosed for the sake of humility.

The Brute.
America, Midwestern USA
"Big Tony", A huge, bulking sportsman that specializes in competitive motorbike riding, despite their heavy size and weight, including the lifting of heavy weaponry. Despite their intimidating appearance, they have a big brother and leader-like mentality, has a tendency to be somewhat unpredictable with their attitude, going from silly and outgoing, but also has a tendency to be serious and easy to provoke their anger at times.

The Mechanic.
America, Western USA
An expert in their field, a prodigy of a master engineer of old, as they call it. They eventually managed to obtain the blueprints of their mentor that had an exact copy in order for him to recreate their master's buildings, comes with a sentry gun, dispenser, and a teleporter entrance and exit! Calm, collected and certainly tactical and straight to the point when it comes to scenarios that tend to get hairy, but has a short temper.

The Doctor.
Britain, undetermined Region
A shy, passive, but optimistic man from the land of Britain with a happy-go-lucky attitude, but isn't afraid of calling out people for their blunders. Took up the interest of becoming a medic after saving his father's life from a wound that proved to be fatal, and has been looking out for his wheelchair-bound parent ever since their mother left them both. During their time in medical school, they met a close friend of theirs with similar interests, though, something went wrong during their time spent there that ended with the blame falling on their best friend, which broke up their friendship as they went their separate ways. Does not want to hurt others around him, but has the will to so if danger comes their way.

The Marksman.
America, Southern USA
A calm and quiet person that's humble and polite, originating from the state of Mississippi. Initially shunned for his different skin color, they immediately garnered respect from others around him for his remarkable aim when it came to rifles of any kind, eventually winning a pigeon-shooting competition that ended with a feast for everyone that attended the competition. Underneath that hat, though, lies a scar that has yet to be patched up, being blind in one of their eyes as a result from the accident.

The Agent.
Italy, undetermined Region
A young, black-haired woman in her 20s from an undetermined region in Italy that was separated from her younger sister after the death of their father in a car crash during their childhood, the younger sister's whereabouts now unknown after she ran away from home due to their inconsolable grief. The older one was left to stay behind and watch over their house, cats and mother, hoping to see their sister return home one day. Decided to take up a professional job in espionage and assassination, and that's all I got from her. It remains a mystery if the missing sister is still alive or not.

and finally, the Administrator.
?, Unknown
Next to nothing is known about this person that came into my office at the last minute. They claimed with valid proof, pictures and testimonies that they were a person from the old Gravel Wars from the cold war era that wanted to help oversee everything that was going to happen between you two and the groups of mercenaries. As part of my agreement with this person, your rival company will also be keeping them around to ensure this goes as smoothly as possible, and be kept a strict secret from your mercenaries.

Do take good care of these people, son of Gerhardt!
Yours truly, Mr. Joseph Fitten of Fitten Co.! Selling products, and beating the hell out of each other since 1972!"


All nine mercenaries, according to the letter sent to both brothers, excelled in their specialties and roles, each of them coming with humble backstories and origins as to why they sought out a job at either GRN or RED.

Whether it was for the money, respect, personal reasons, or camaraderie, they all had a purpose after signing their contracts with their companies.
For the mercenaries within GRN, it was to save the environment around the world, fix climate change, perform animal rescue operations and Mother Nature herself while stopping Reginald and RED from doing anything that could halt their company's progress.
Meanwhile, RED's band of mercenaries had the task of raiding GRN's bases to put a stop to their extremist ideologies that constituted eco-terrorism, harvesting their supplies for themselves to sell for profit, and scavenge for any resources that could be useful for forwarding their machinations and innovative technology that could prosper the human race if used in the right hands.

However, what both brothers hadn't realized by starting this war against each other, as well as hiring these mercenaries to fight for them, was that they were about to begin a cycle anew and repeat history from decades ago that their family had suffered through. Scraps of stories tell that several decades ago, both Mann Brothers tried to do the same thing against each other over worthless piles of gravel that spanned for over 150 years, with new mercenaries replacing old ones that ultimately led to no one being the winner after the final deaths of both Redmond and Blutarch Mann in 1972, thanks to the efforts of their younger sibling, Gray Mann murdering them during a brotherly meet-up in an alamo in the middle of the Badlands.

The story after that, though, has unfortunately been lost to time since then, with only those, especially the mercenaries from that time who took part in the effort to stop Gray Mann in what was speculated to be an underground mission. Said underground mission being hosted by the previous Administrator at the time of the ongoing Gravel Wars, their name unknown to many outside of the now-defunct Mann Co. after the deaths of the Mann Brothers, the company closing its doors the year after.

There were only rumors among the teams that foretold, that the current Administrator used to be part of either the previous RED or BLU teams before the current RED and GRN companies took over their bases of operations after the retirement of Mann Co. that owned them, now having taken over their former Administrator's position for themselves to oversee the battles that are about to come, their identity unknown to many of them outside of their voice, which they have yet to hear.

And for this person, they know exactly what is going to happen the moment these new batch of mercenaries set foot into what used to be the Badlands. It's only a matter of time, before they, alongside their companies reignite and continue the flame that began the legacy of the Gravel Wars between Redmond and Blutarch Mann.

This is the story of how the future met the past.


Author's Note: Welp, guess we're here again after so long, huh?

It's been almost around 5 or so years since I last started writing a story on this website, guess you could say I got a new spark of interest that could lead to a flame with this story, especially now that I don't have the stresses of college to worry about anymore after graduating. Can't tell you how much of a big difference it is working mentally when you have to focus on grades and whatnot, and working physically through the current job I have. I'd MUCH prefer the latter, that's for sure!

I don't have much else to say, I just hope that the FanFiction community is willing to open up their arms and welcome me back to them, maybe I'll meet some old faces that I've met before and remedy my mistakes that I had with them previously. I definitely feel like the quality of this story is going to be a huge, sharp contrast from my previous stories from around 2016 compared to today, haha.

Don't know when Chapter 2 will come out, but let's hope I won't abandon this story, been having a concept of a story like this stuck in my head for a while now that I want to express through the internet, so look forward to that! I'll be seeing you in the next chapter!