Dirt and dust was kicked up in their wake as the pair ran across the battlefield, narrowly avoiding the bullets that flew past. Tracy ducked behind a shed as the RED Sniper came into view. She had been hoping he would already be occupied, but no such luck. As soon as she peeked out to check, the sound of ricochet made her pull back.

"Great." She snarked, turning to the Spy who was already combing through his disguise kit.

"No need to fret, mon ami." He tutted, pulling on a friendly Heavy mask before going invisible. "Just a moment, try not to get yourself killed."

Tracy rolled her eyes so hard it was almost audible. While she couldn't see the Spy, she could feel his presence leave her and at that moment she could feel another pair of eyes watching her. Turning around, she caught sight of a RED Uniform walking past the shed. RED Thief, it looked like, but she didn't seem to be interested in Tracy at all. Strange.

Her thoughts were cut off as a meat cleaver was thrown into her shoulder, embedding into her flesh. Tracy let out a short, startled scream as she turned towards her attacker. A RED Scout sped towards her, bat in hand. She didn't have any time to deliberate as the boy dived forwards, she grabbed her shotgun and shoved it into his solar plexus, firing point blank. Despite her experience with the weapon, she jumped as the Scout's body was flown back several feet, his upper stomach completely obliterated from the impact. Tracy shook as she wiped the blood and bits of flesh from her face, trying her best not to get it into her mouth. She didn't know if she could ever get used to that, the up close and personal kills where you get to watch as the life leaves their eyes. Tracy suddenly felt extremely jealous of the Sniper, at least he could look away from his scope after he was done.

Pressing her back against the shed wall, she gently examined the blade. It was wedged in pretty deep, and she wasn't sure if she should pull it out or not. She heard somewhere that pulling it out could make her bleed out faster, but she couldn't remember where. Just touching the handle sent searing pain into her shoulder and a shiver of dread down her spine. Tracy wanted to call for the Medic, but she figured the Spy would be back faster than the Medic would come running. Swallowing down bile, she peeked around the corner and witnessed the RED Sniper falling out of his perch back first, landing on his head with a sickening crack. His body slumped over like a ragdoll, twisted unnaturally with the middle of the Sniper's back pressed against the top of his head. His own weight must have been enough to bend him in half. Tracy looked up at the window, waving at the 'Heavy' as he signaled for her to follow.

Running into the side door, she met the Spy at the base of the stairs. He quickly pulled her to his side as the RED Heavy and that damned Scout ran past, thankfully not noticing the pair. Once he was sure they had a moment, he turned and observed her wounds.

"You poor thing. Thankfully I picked up this," He pulled a med-kit out from his inner jacket pocket, "before I dealt with our little friend. Be a dear and hold still a moment."

Tracy didn't have much choice as he wrenched the meat cleaver out of her shoulder, so quickly she hardly felt the pain. Blood shot out from her shoulder like a fire hydrant, apparently the blade had come a little too close to the jugular. Before she could become light headed from the blood loss, the Frenchman pulled out a vial of pills. She had expected him to hand her the pills to swallow, something she had always done when she needed healing and the Medic wasn't around to babysit. Instead, he pushed the capsules into her split flesh, and she got to watch her skin knit itself back together.

"W-Wow, that works a lot faster than the way I do it." She stuttered, a little woozy from the experience. She grazed her fingertips along the sensitive new flesh, surprised by the sensation. "I wish you guys would tell me this stuff so I'm not doin' it wrong."

"Perhaps you should ask instead of expecting us to show you?" The Spy countered, tutting as he put the pills back into the med-kit. "Swallow for internal wounds, using topically for topical wounds. Now, we have a job to do."

She sighed dramatically, "Right. So, how do you expect us to get in there?"

The Spy stroked his chin, his eyes roaming around the room until he settled on a cardboard box in the corner.

"No."

"Oui."


'Stupid. This is so stupid!' Her mind yelled at her, and she whole-heartedly agreed. She thought the Frenchman was a very clever and crafty man, he had to be, it was his job after all. But this had to be one of the most mind numbing and ridiculous plans she had ever been apart of, and she had been a part of a lot of stupid ideas.

Taking in a slow, steady breath, Tracy shimmied herself across the grass and rubble towards RED spawn, careful to keep close to the Spy ahead of her. It just so happened the RED base had a perfectly sized cardboard box to hide inside, and this was the Spy's brilliant plan. Hide in the box, move when she could and freeze whenever one came out of spawn, and that was often. The Spy was disguised as the RED Engineer, signaling whenever it was clear for her to move forward.

It must have only been a few minutes, but it felt likes hours until she was close enough to the door and had been there long enough for the box to not cause any suspicion. Tracy peered out through the hand holds of the box, meeting eyes with the Spy. He looked upon her for a moment before giving a firm nod of his head and removed his disguise, just as what must have been the entire enemy team left their spawn room. Nine pairs of eyes glared down at the Frenchman as he gave them a cheeky smile, whistling ghoulishly as he ran back they way they came. Tracy clenched her eyes shut, listening intently as the sound of gunfire went further and further away, until she was alone. Not wasting this opportunity, she threw off the box and sprinted towards the spawn, having to physically push the shutter door up as it didn't respond to her team color. Not that she had expected it to, of course.

As much as Tracy wanted to compare her team's spawn room to theirs, she really didn't want to be caught in close quarters to a freshly cloned and pissed off RED. Walking to the back of the spawn, she found a similar shutter door that was locked. Pulling out a slip of paper the Spy had given her, she tapped in the passcode and slipped inside, gently closing it behind her. Just in time too, she heard the nearly silent noise that was respawn, the sound of fabric moving. Now that she thought of it, how did they even get in the respawn room anyway? There weren't any tubes, and no flash of teleportation like when they used the Engineer's contraptions. Taking a deep breath, she tucked that thought away for another time.

Turning, Tracy was greeted by a flight of stairs down into inky blackness. And just her luck, she didn't have a damn flashlight. Sighing, and muttering why she didn't get a flashlight instead of a screwdriver, she pressed her body into the wall and followed it down.

Eventually her fingers found a light switch and the room was illuminated, revealing the RED Medic's infirmary in all of its macabre glory. The walls were littered with shelves and bookcases, filled with medical textbooks to mythic tombs, jars of formaldehyde and various body parts. The stench of decaying necrotic tissue mixed with the lemony fresh scent of cleaning chemicals and hung sickly in the air, the air conditioning only serving to stir the reek around the room more. Besides that, it seemed the doctor had attempted to be more tidy. No bloody rags or unclean utensils, but something oppressive gripped her the longer she stood there. Bad memories, probably.

Or perhaps it was the ten pairs of beady little eyes staring down at her from the rafters, their deceptively soft cooing sending a shiver throughout her body. She didn't mind birds, in fact she liked her Medic's doves quite a bit. They were very affectionate if you treated them well, but it seemed the hostility between the teams even extended to their pets, she just couldn't help but feel the hatred from the little creatures.

Standing up straight, Tracy scanned the room for anything that stood out. The room she was currently in was obviously an operating room, or an approximation of it. A few gurneys, rolling tables and surgical supplies aplenty, a large fridge in the corner, a closet, and a door to the far left that she assumed must be the Medic's study. Tracy decided to search the study first, it seemed the most obvious place the files would be. Of course the door was locked, but this lock's slot was quite a bit bigger. Large enough she could slip her screwdriver inside and simply force the door open. It wasn't a pleasant noise, and not a quiet one either, but she assumed the sound would be dampened by the discord outside.

The Medic's office was quite a bit nicer than the rest of the facility. Folders and files were stacked neatly in piles, pencils sharpened and put away in a cute red cup, an extra set of gloves folded over the arm of his chair, and even a potted fern in the corner. There were sketches of what she assumed was a medi-gun prototype at the top of the pile of documents, labelled the Vaccinator. Tracy took a mental note to grab one of the schematics, even if she knew it was a bad idea.

Stepping around the room, she analyzed every spot she thought the Medic might hide something. Of course, she was banking on her knowledge of her own Medic and his quirks, but if there was one thing she knew about their teams was that they shared more than they cared or wanted to admit. Sitting down, she began rummaging through the drawers of his desk.

The Spy explained her task was to retrieve medical files labelled "R.M." and that was all. She assumed he was specifically leaving out information, and was more than likely directed to by Miss Pauling, who was directed to by the Administrator. At some point she would have to talk to this 'Administrator'. She wished she could have made the time to talk to her at Saxton's ball, but she had been so preoccupied by the dance partner problem it didn't even occur to her.

Just as she was about to close the top right drawer, she felt something lightweight shift that definitely wasn't the papers she had just gone through. She double checked just to be sure, taking out the papers to test again. Yup, definitely something moving in there. Pulling out her screwdriver, she tested the bottom and found purchase against the wood grain, and discovered the drawer's false bottom. Tracy grinned as that hit of dopamine flooded through her limbs, the same she got every time she stole something. Usually she felt a bit guilty after the high wore off, but she supposed she didn't feel as bad since they were trying to kill her. Pulling out the drawer, she examined the hidden contents inside.

A RED briefcase, inside were eleven folders in total, and she quickly noticed they were the files of their team. All of them were there, Scout all the way to Spy, including herself. The last file was thankfully what she had been after. Taking the folder out of the pile, she couldn't help but take a peak.

Redmond Mann, brother of Blutarch. Their bosses medical files? That's what she had been sent for? She flipped through the few pages, skimming the paragraphs of information. Most of it was incomprehensible medical terminology that she couldn't begin to decipher, but she understood the gist of it. Primarily it was information on the life extending device the Mann used, his physical condition (corpse-like), and the several options they had to increase his odds of survival, no matter how slim the chances were. What really got her attention was the last bit of information at the very bottom of the last page.

Redmond Mann's current residence. His fucking home address.

Tracy didn't know if she should be impressed by the stupidity or the balls. The brothers were trying to hide from each other right? Then why would one of them intentionally, she hoped it was intentional because she couldn't conceive of someone being so dumb to overlook such a blunder, announce their location on ANY sort of paper? If they were this idiotic, how in the hell has this war lasted over two hundred years?

At this point she didn't even want to think about it. She did her stupid little errand, now she was done. Grabbing the folder, she began to place the other folders down when a particularly strong explosion rocked the building. One of the folders fell from her hands, documents falling loose and fluttered to the floor. Dropping to her knees, she began putting the files back in their proper places when she noticed a photo on the floor.

It made her want to vomit.

Her chest tightened as cold dread filled her heart. She shook as she put the photo into the folder and placed everything back as it should. She shivered as she grabbed the schematic and stuffed it under her arm with the Mann's medical file. She hesitated as she stepped out of the study and approach the Medic's refrigerator.

She stumbled and ran towards a trash can, purging what little breakfast she had managed to get down.

"Please, kill me." Said the decapitated head.

Tracy had never felt such pity for anything before in her life.


Now here is where I'd like some reader input! What should Tracy do for the poor decapitated Spy? Should she end his torment? Or should she help him escape?