She was sobbing as she laid across her bed, trying to hide under the covers. Her face hurt with the pressure on her face, tears streaming down her cheeks staining her pillows. Guilt, shame, and fear filled her as she held onto her stuffed monkey toy.
They just came home from the trial. Looking her friends one by one in the eye as she told the judge exactly what had happened was the worst feeling she had ever experienced. The looks of betrayal across their faces served to twist the knife further, making her flinch. When she heard the verdict, the tears came faster. Grand Theft to the third degree for the twins and Zach, although Zach would be tried separately for assault. Thankfully the twins would get less time since they had cooperated fully with the police, but poor Zach would get more. They had no idea yet, but her lawyer had told it could be up to a year.
Tracy herself had gotten two years of probation, something she knew was too good for her.
She was a coward. She could have kept her mouth shut, but she didn't. And now her friends would have to pay the price, but her? She'd get off relatively scot free.
Curling up in the fetal position, she held the toy tighter as she thought of Victor, wondering where he had ran off to. Should she feel relieved he ran off before he could be victim to her cowardice, or scared for his life? She knew he had other friends, but would they be willing to hide a criminal? It was a small town, only way out was through the woods or on the highway. Either way she hoped Victor would be okay, but she secretly hoped he wouldn't come back to find out what she did.
Click! Tracy twitched at the sound of her bedroom door opening, self loathing intensifying as she knew who stepped through. The soft clicking of heels on wooden floor approached her, until she felt the weight of her bed shift as they sat down. Tracy could feel a hand land on her back, rubbing small circles soothingly into her shoulder.
She didn't want to look, but Tracy was compelled to turn over and peek between the covers. Her mother sat beside her, a small frown on her face. Shrinking away, she hid her face back into her pillow, wallowing in self pity.
Tracy heard her mother take a deep breath, letting out a pregnant sigh.
While she had lived with her mother her entire life, the two had always been distant. Her mother took a very hands off approach to raising her, barely interacting with her school or social life, leaving her to her own devices when she got into trouble. This was one of the few times she had stepped in, using what savings they had to hire a lawyer.
Her mother loved her, Tracy knew that, but it felt so empty when they never said it. Barely hugged, even when Tracy was really young. Now that she thought about it, that's when the stealing started. Being a child in a town like hers with little to do and no friends made it easy to get in trouble, at least in Tracy's experience. When she met the twins, and the others joined in, she actually felt alive for once. It wasn't really even about what they stole, or who it was from, just being with her friends made the danger worth it.
But now that this happened... she didn't regret her time with her friends, but she regretted ever letting them go down this path. She should have been the responsible one. But she was an idiot, immature as a child, only thinking of herself.
"Tracy, I understand what you're going through." Her mother spoke quietly.
When had she though? Tracy barely knew anything about her mother, other than her job in advertisement. Her mother took a passing interest in anything her daughter did, even if it was a crime. Hell, Tracy didn't even know who her father was, she was kind of scared to ask.
If her mother had gone through something similar, she didn't elaborate. She simply turned away, looking across the room, but Tracy could tell she wasn't really seeing her room. She was seeing something else, something that happened a long time ago. Tracy blinked her tears away and sat up, peering at her mother. The older woman had turned away, her dark brown hair hiding her features.
When her mother snapped out of her revere, she looked her in the eyes, pity and sadness and just a little bit of disappointment. It made her feel all the worse. The longer she looked at her mother, she realized how little alike they were in looks, not just in personality. Tracy had taken most of her looks after her father, or so she was told, a much squarer face and high cheekbones. Her mom had a longer, softer face. Sometimes Tracy wondered if she was even her mother's child, the only thing they shared were their hazel eyes.
Another breath, and to Tracy's surprise, her mother began chuckling to herself. She rarely ever smiled, the last time she could remember her mother smiling was when she was a child. It confused her even more.
As the chuckles trailed off, the older woman noticed the look on her face, "Let's just say we're more alike then you think. It's going to be okay."
Sniffling, Tracy rubbed her eyes.
"But can you do something for me dear?"
"Hm?"
"Just try not to get killed."
Tracy awoke, face pressed against the window of the truck, she could feel the Medic shifting beside her as the vehicle rocked back and forth. Peeling her face off the glass, she turned to see who was speaking.
"Ah don't want it to end up like last time with Soldier..." The Engineer continued, "Nearly got an entire town on our asses fer' pickin' fights at the local library cus' he wasn't in the history books."
"I promise, I vill not get myself into trouble." Medic replied eloquently, a playful smile on his face. "I will only get the troublemakers, I assure you. No one will miss them."
Blinking the sleep away, she sat up in her seat and asked, "The hell are you guys talking about?" The two men perked up at her voice, turning to acknowledge her, the Medic being the first to respond.
"You're finally awake?" The German doctor tutted as he ignored her question, clearly still in a mischievous mood. "Did you not get any sleep last night?"
Despite herself, Tracy turned to look at the Texan in the driver's seat. He didn't react to the question, so she assumed he hadn't heard.
"I slept fine," She rubbed her shoulders, still sore from sleeping in that position. "I guess I just need more sleep than most people."
"Well, it was a good thing you woke up, we're just about there." Engineer piped up, gesturing towards the horizon. In the distance was a farm surrounded by fields of golden corn and wheat, the afternoon sun causing it to shimmer in the breeze. Between the fields were large clearings, three building separated by the fields a few hundred yards from each other. The road they were on followed a line of light posts, which went on seemingly for miles, went directly past a small blue barn.
The Texan pointed to the barn, "That's where you'll be settin' up Doc."
Medic gave the building a nod as they approached it, tapping his chin. "It will suffice, so long as it has running water and electricity. Tell me, what sort of things did your grandfather work on?"
"Other than what he made for RED n' BLU, and the Respawn? Ah'm not entirely sure." He shrugged as they pulled up to the barn. It was rustic, it kind of reminded her of Teufort. "He was a very... quiet man. But there are sheds fulla stuff he didn't complete, so Ah know there's somethin' out there he tinkered with that'll help."
His grandfather had created Respawn? For some reason Tracy assumed it had been Engineer's invention, although she supposed it made sense. He recreated and improved on a lot of his grandfather's inventions.
Tracy practically fell out of the truck when she opened the door, happy to stretch. Medic was right after her, moving to the back to begin pulling his medical supplies out. Engie stood at the door of his truck, a small smile on his face as he surveyed the area. She understood how he felt, it must be nice to come back to something familiar. Personally it felt a little strange to be around something that wasn't blasted to pieces or filled with holes. Still, the fresh air was nice.
A hand on her shoulder snapped her out of her revere. She followed the hand to a gas mask, jumping a little. Tracy had completely forgotten about the Pyro tagging along, they had been so quiet in the back. Pyro pointed towards the Medic and the other supplies that needed to be moved, gesturing for her to follow. Understanding, she called the Engineer over and together the four of them moved the equipment inside. To Tracy's surprise, there was much more room on the inside than she thought. It had once been occupied by farm animals, but all the stalls had been removed, in their place metal supply tables filled with scrap metal. The cement floor still had bits of straw littering the barn, the smell strong and sweet in the air. It didn't take long to move everything in with the four of them working together. The last bit was a large styrofoam box held together with duct tape, something glowing within. There was evidence of burning at one of the corners, something she had no doubt was the Pyro's doing.
Picking it up, she was surprised by its weight. "What the hell is this?"
The Medic stepped forward quickly, taking the box from her hands. "Oh yes, we should probably get him out of there now."
Trading looks with the Engineer, she gawked at him. "You brought the Spy along in THAT? And you put him in the back?!"
Huffing, the German doctor walked into the barn and began to remove the tape. "Please, I really did not want to risk my patient being knocked out of my hands while we were on the road. I DID have him secured, although I do admit I did not foresee another teammate joining us..."
Muffled complaints followed as the Medic pulled the decapitated man from the packaging, tutting condescendingly as he took in his patient's condition. The Spy had a similar contraption to what the REDs had created attached to the stump of his neck, a small blue light at the base of the collar. She assumed it was meant to represent the machine was operational. While it did not please her to see him in a similar situation, she was glad the Frenchman was going to get the help he needed. He didn't share her optimistic outlook.
"Do you have any idea how awful it was being crushed under thoze cases you incompetent bastards?!" The Frenchman spewed as he was looked over, his complaints ignored. "And did you idiots NOT notice the fire being started RIGHT BEHIND YOU? I nearly fainted of smoke inhalation!" The Pyro mumbled something, playing with a piece of hay on the floor like a guilty child.
"It is nothing you are not used to." Medic rolled his eyes, "Please stop complaining, don't make me leave you here overnight."
Tracy was tempted to step in and say something, the Medic was being rather rude in her opinion, but she knew that was just how he was. While he was a good doctor and did all he could for his patients, he didn't really empathize with them very often. She also didn't feel it was her place to either, even if she was part of the team she still felt there were things she didn't have any say on. Luckily she didn't have to.
"Now now, Ah think he's been through enough." Engineer patted the German on the back, jerking his head towards the truck. He turned address each of them, "Besides, we should head over to the main house, Ah figure y'all wanna rest yer lazy bones and unpack."
Everyone mumbled their assent and closed up the barn, climbing back into the vehicle. It was just another short drive before they arrived in front of a large two story brown barn house. It was clearly very old and in slight disrepair, looking like it had seen little traffic in a long time, dust and grime fogging the windows. It had a large front porch with an ancient looking porch swing. Bits of scrap metal and random nuts and bolts littered the wooden deck, wisps of yellow grass struggling to grow between cracked pavement of the sidewalk. Engineer parked the truck beside the house, giving a low whistle.
"It's been awhile since Ah've been here, feels like forever." He murmured wistfully.
"Yes, yes, I'm sure you missed your trash heap very much." Spy snorted derisively from the Medic's lap, "Can we get on with it? I just want to be set down."
"Now Ah'm startin' to regret bringin' you along." The Texan gave him a sneer.
Stepping out of the truck, Tracy quickly grabbed her suitcase and walked along the Engineer as they approached the house. From up close the building appeared much older, she estimated up to a hundred years old or older. That observation was only cemented when the Engineer brought out a corroded copper key, but the door had to be physically shoved open once they realized it was stuck.
"Musta been the rain, makin' the door expand." Engineer grumbled as the group walked inside. It was quite open on the inside, a large kitchen table in the center of the room with few chairs lining the sides. A large furnace sat in the corner of the room with piles of firewood at its side. The entire house was filled with large windows exposing the home to natural lighting, dust motes filled the air as they filed inside. Despite the appearance of the outside, most of the furniture was in good shape, she could recognize a lot of it being antique. To the left was a staircase and the kitchen, a rustic looking stove and icebox to complete the set. To the right was a small living area, two leather couches set in front of a coffee table near the furnace. There was cabinets and bookcases filled with textbooks and handbooks, everything related to engineering is a craft. Looking closer at the walls, she recognized some framed photos as family pictures. One in particular caught Tracy's eye, the Engineer and who she assumed to be his father. Despite being skinnier than she expected, she could recognize him anywhere with those goggles.
Upstairs was just as exposed as the first floor, each room was separated by a thin wooden wall. Air moved freely throughout the house, dust disturbed from its place as they began exploring. There were two main bedrooms beside each other at one side, a conjoined guest bedroom at the other with the wooden staircase in the middle. Next to the guest bedroom would be a quaint little bathroom, if not for the cobwebs covering the door. The steps creaked ominously as the group climbed up, Engineer waving blindly in the dark to find a pull string. The light flickered to life, a low buzz greeting her ears.
"Ah hope y'all don't mind if I take one of the bedrooms, it is mah home after all." He gestured to door closest to the staircase. "I have no qualms with who takes the other, so it's up to you..."
Tracy was ready to take one of the guest beds, she was comfortable bunking with the Pyro and she assumed the Medic would want the privacy. She was about to open her mouth when the German smoothly stepped in.
"Ah, I will be fine as long as it is not military grade..." Medic dramatically stretched his back, the Spy under his arm. "Besides, I do not need the room. It would be quite strange to sleep with a decapitated head."
Spy shot him a haughty glare.
"As handsome as he is." He amended, his lips curling in amusement. The Frenchman rolled his eyes. "You don't mind, do you Pyromanisch?"
The Pyro jumped up in down in glee, wrapping his arms around the doctor. Medic's smile faltered only a little at the over enthusiastic firestarter, gently patting them on the back. As the Engineer grabbed his bags and began moving his things into the room, the Medic gave Tracy a subtle wink, gesturing at the other bedroom. Nodding gratefully, she took her suitcase and stepped inside, gently closing the door behind her.
Setting her suitcase down, she surveyed the room. It was surprisingly empty aside from the queen sized bed and dressers. There was a night stand beside the bed holding a lamp and ash tray. A large window opened the room up to the afternoon sun as she pulled the curtains aside. From her vantage point, she could see most of the property. For miles around there was nothing but fields of vegetation and light posts, in the distance she could make out the barn they had just come from. Turning, she noticed the other barn, painted a traditional red. There were indeed cows, being led back into the barn, although she couldn't see what had been shepherding them. Rubbing her chin in thought, Tracy ultimately decided to ask the Engineer about it later.
Throwing the covers off of the bed, the Thief did her best to remove most of the dust from the room. Thankfully the window opened, letting fresh air inside. She considered unpacking her clothes, but she didn't have much to put away. Flopping down on the bed, she groaned. Once Tracy was alone, all her thoughts were drawn to that call. She'd rather help Medic move all the medical equipment in the world, or listen to her teammates squabble, as long as she wasn't alone.
Tracy groaned at the thought of stealing from her teammates. Every now and then she felt the compulsion to steal, but never from her friends. The idea of taking advantage of their trust like that overrode any impulses she had. To do something like that to Engineer, who had been so kind to her, made the anxiety twist in her gut. She didn't even really know what she was looking for, the Administrator had been very cryptic about it. The only thing she could remember was that it was a document the Administrator had given his grandfather. To that end Tracy assumed when she found it, it would be obvious.
There had to be a reason she wasn't told exactly what the document was, she wasn't stupid. Clearly their little vacation wasn't scheduled, this was done to give her time.
She had the overwhelming feeling that this was much bigger than she first thought.
