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Tracy tapped her foot anxiously. Around her, the team was chattering away while sorting through their weapons and taking the last drinks of water they could, before they had to burst out into the sweltering and unforgiving wasteland. She couldn't understand how they were being so casual, risking their lives every single day with the promise that the damn machine that brought them back wouldn't malfunction.
She had been told to follow the group and just stay close, especially to the Medic and the bigger guys who could protect her since she was so green. She halfway felt like she was just a burden to her teammates and that she would just get in the way, but Medic assured her that it would be okay.
"You are not the first new member of our team. Scout might have killed a few people in his days at home, but it was a learning experience for him too." He smiled, "Ah, I remember when he stumbled into a room with the RED Engineer who had set up in a corner. You should have seen the look on his face, before he was blown to bits by the rockets."
She watched in horror as he laughed, as if it were hilarious to talk about someone's horrific death. The Scout didn't seem too pleased either, rolling his eyes and the tips of his ears went red with embarrassment and anger.
The thought occurred to her that she might stumble across the RED Engineer, and worried for both his life and her own. She didn't want to have to hurt him, or see him get hurt, but there was little she could do to stop that.
The Thief was shown her weapons. She was rather surprised at what she received: a shotgun, a pistol with a silencer at the end, a screwdriver, and a small bag of chalky pellets that she had no idea what the purpose was.
"Smoke-" The Spy stepped forward, but was quickly interrupted by the Demoman literally shoving him out of the conversation, a snarl on his face.
"Oi! This is MY job, I'll tell 'im." The black Scotsman yelled before turning to address the Thief. "Those right there 'r smoke bombs, I'd say you'll get a few seconds of cover. Don't let 'im explode in yer pocket, had that happen a few times... couldn't sit down fer a week."
She nodded, a little exasperated but trying to be friendly. The Spy returned close towards the door, growling under his breath as he wiped off his suit. Tracy wondered how exactly he got around, since he never explained how. She could understand how the other classes got about. The Heavy brute forced his way through a crowd, and usually had the Medic on his back with the medigun. The Sniper never approached the front lines but kept himself in a nest on the second floor. The Engineer would stick around near the intelligence and the Scout would rush faster than the human eye could track.
Tracy didn't know exactly what she would be doing either. She assumed that she'd be the best candidate to steal the intelligence from the enemy base, but she was nowhere near fast as Scout to get in and out quickly, nor was she adequate enough with a weapon to brute her way out either.
She presumed that she'd have to follow another class in and get to the intelligence and just hope she could make it out before anyone bumped into her.
The intercom boomed to life, startling the wits out of her and dropped the styrofoam cup of water she had been taking small sips from.
"MISSION BEGINS IN TEN SECONDS." The voice was loud and commanding attention. Tracy immediately stood from her seat, readying her weapons. Shotgun first? Probably the best option, although she had never fired one before. She had her pistol holstered on a strap around her chest and the smoke bombs and screwdriver in her pockets.
She stayed behind the pack as the voice counted down the seconds.
"FIVE."
The Engineer hefted a toolbox over his shoulder, wrench in hand and prepared to bolt out down to the intelligence room.
"FOUR."
The Heavy and Medic were already set up, the German doctor releasing a beam from his medigun and trained it onto the larger man beside him. Heavy was rotating the barrel of his minigun, staring directly at the door in concentration.
"THREE!"
Scout stamped his feet impatiently, muttering under his breath to "Hurry up already." The Sniper rolled his eyes and wiped his glasses with his sleeve, resting his rifle on his free arm.
"TWO!"
Demoman was already piss drunk at this point, probably three times above the legal limit, but had a surprisingly lucid expression as he readied his grenade launcher. The Soldier was lifting a rocket launcher in both hands, hunched over quite a bit.
Everyone took a collective breath in anticipation.
"ONE! BEGIN!"
An siren began to wail as the shutter door opened, and everyone began to charge out. Everyone yelled out some soty of battle-cry, rallying the others. The Scout was out first of course, disappearing past a corner. Engineer went straight down to the Intelligence, telling others to move out of the way.
Thief did as she was told and trailed after the Medic and Heavy, her breaths labored and panicky. Her hands shook, a death grip around the handle of her shotgun.
They ran down the stairs to the first floor and began their way outside. There was a bridge with water underneath, and what she could see was a sewage pipe leading directly under the RED Base. She could already make out the form of a RED Sniper watching their every move.
"Sniper!" She cried out in warning, and the Heavy and Medic hurried under the cover of the bridge. They could hear a shot which was absorbed by the bridge's roof.
It appeared the opposing team had a similar strategy. A RED Heavy and Medic began to stomp out of their base, and she could hear the sound of the minigun spinning before the shots were fired.
The Heavy grunted, taking most of the bullets as the Medic hid behind him, the lever of his medigun all the way down. Tracy ducked behind the larger man, wondering how many bullets he could take before eventually conceding. From behind her she could hear the blast of a rocket hitting the ground, and a yell of what was either pain or glee flying up and over her group.
The BLU Soldier, the mad man, had used his rocket launcher to catapult himself above the arena and into the RED Base. The Demoman had a likewise technique, firing sticky bombs to the floor and detonating them as he jumped. She had no idea how they managed to survive these attacks against themselves, and wondered how in the hell they managed to figure out how to do that.
Just as Tracy turned back towards Heavy and Medic, she witness the Russian kneel down, bleeding heavily from his wounds. The Medic was doing the best he could, but it was clear the Heavy did not have much time. There was only so much the medigun could do, and removing bullets was not one of them. At least the opposing team's Heavy looked just as bad.
Heavy gave one cry of pain before collapsing to the ground, the minigun clattering loudly onto the bridge. The Medic began to retreat, as did Tracy. She made a split-second decision, grabbing the doctor by his arm and leaping over the side of the bridge.
They slammed into the water. It wasn't extremely deep, but it was enough to break their fall. They swam under the bridge, but a minigun whirled again and began firing through. But with the most incredible case of luck she had ever had, not a single bullet hit them and they were able to make it into the sewage pipe under RED.
"Are they going to follow us?" She asked the doctor. She was leaning against the walls of the pipe, her hand still locked around the Medic's arm. She let go, giving him an apologetic smile, however forced it was.
He growled in frustration. "Nein. We are insignificant to their objective, although I would not put it past them." He took off his glasses, wiping the water away. It was a wonder how they even stayed on in such a mess. "They will be heading towards our base. However, since we are here, we should move towards theirs. If we move quickly, perhaps we might be able to get it."
He began to march forward, turning the corner. The Thief chased after him, "Are you crazy? Without Heavy or Soldier? We'd be dead in a heartbeat!"
He scoffed, brushing aside her worries with a hand. "Please, do you think of me as incapable? I have killed many men over the years."
"But I haven't!" She threw up her hands in frustration. "If you die, then I am totally screwed."
"Enough!" The Doctor snapped. Tracy stepped back, having never seen the Medic in such a mood. It was honestly very intimidating, considering she had always seen the doctor happy or just grumpy, never truly angry. "We have no time for your feelings of fear. Do you think we do not fear for our lives?"
She didn't answer, cowed by his outburst. He was right, there was more pressing matters at hand than her petty emotions. She had to get serious and focus on the objective.
They ran up a flight of stairs, Thief following after the Medic. For the most part, the ground level was clear.
He shushed her as they went up another set of stairs, creeping over a grate floor. Tracy recognized the layout of the building, as it perfectly matched her own. The Medic peered out the doorway, and quickly pulled his head back. There was a sound of footsteps, but they eventually faded.
"Now!" He hissed, and bolted from the room. Tracy tried to keep up, constantly looking back to see if anyone was following them.
They went down a winding decline, Medic stopping once again to peer out.
"Even if we get near the Intelligence without getting caught, how are we going to deal with Engineer's sentries?" She whispered.
"A distraction." He replied, furrowing his brow with a frown on his lips. "I will go first to one side and you the other. The sentry guns cannot shoot both of us at the same time."
Tracy shook her head, a small smile on her lips. "Yer crazy doc."
"I know, you've already said it twice." He snorted back, his frown transforming into a wry grin.
She took the right, the shorter route, while the Medic took the longer hallway. Tracy stood around the corner, and heard the beeping of the sentry as it turned towards the Medic and began to fire.
Moving as fast as she could, she turned the corner and ran right up to the contraption, firing point-blank. Sparks flew as it became irreparable. It burst into flames and exploded, knocking her back into a wall.
She turned just slightly to catch sight of the Medic's body lying face-first on the ground, lying in a pool of blood. Her throat closed, blood draining from her face. He was dead? However, she had no time to mourn the loss as a flash of RED uniform entered her vision. The RED Engineer.
He growled in anger, and perhaps didn't recognize her in the uniform or didn't care, whipping out a pistol from a pocket in his overalls.
Time slowed, what felt like a minute was only a couple seconds. She had a choice: shoot him, run away, or try to reason with him. She chose the third option.
"Wait!" She cried out, raising a hand.
He hesitated before nodding, "Spit it out."
Moving fast, she removed her hat and face mask, revealing her identity.
"Ah, it's you. Thought it mighta been a Spy." He didn't lower his weapon, but his expression softened slightly. "Listen buddy, I can't just let you take the briefcase."
"But I don't want to hurt you." Her brow furrowed.
"Welp, that's just how it works around here." He said this with amusement and was seemed like regret. He aimed, but she quickly moved and closed the gap, pushing him to the ground. He grunted, falling against a dispenser that had been set up near the intel. Without thinking, she grabbed it and was immediately greeted by the sound of an alarm.
"ALERT! The enemy has taken our intelligence!" It was the same booming voice as before, and Tracy wondered why the same voice would be playing on the opposing team's intercom.
Turning to run, she threw a hand in goodbye. "See ya later!"
She could hear cursing behind her, and she couldn't help but feel slightly giddy. She was actually doing it! She just then remembered the smoke bombs, putting three in her free hand as her shotgun was slung over her shoulder.
She decided to go back the way she came, running up the incline. It was near the resupply area, but she knew it was the fastest way out and hoped to god that there wasn't anyone returning to that area. It then just occurred to her that other people hear the alert from the intercom, and that meant they would be coming to get it back.
Fear crawled into her throat, making her dizzy. There was no time for panic, so she acted purely on instinct. She had to at least pass it off to another member of her team.
Running near the resupply area, she was greeted by an enemy team Pyro. In its hands was a flamethrower, and Tracy knew her death was imminent. It did not wait around, chasing after her. Flames erupted from the weapon, setting her clothes alight and burning her skin and hair. She screamed in agony, running and falling through the grate in the floor and through the doors of the entrance.
BLU Scout was running towards her when she threw the intelligence at him and dove into the water, immediately extinguishing the flames.
"Yo, thanks pally!" He threw up a hand in gratitude before running back to base. A Soldier was in hot pursuit, rocket jumping through the air and disappearing into the BLU base.
The pain was not as bad as it was before, but she was still in a great deal of pain. It felt like her entire back had been fried on a hot iron, and she could feel blisters forming on her back already. She needed the Medic, and now.
She was struggling through the water when she saw BLU Scout again near the sewage pipe. He stepped towards her, but not into the water and offered a hand. She took it gladly, wincing in pain as her burns rubbed against the fabric of her shirt.
"You alright?" He asked.
"Hell no, my back is burned to shit." She growled, stepping around him and intending to find the Medic.
"How about I do you a favor?" There was the sound of hissing as Scout's Bostonian accent turned into French. "I'll remove the pain altogether."
She was in too much pain to turn around, her eyes wide as the last thing she saw was the glint of a blade.
TBC!
