(Meanwhile in a quaint, red brick townhouse in Montreal, Quebec).
An older woman with silver hair tied back neatly into a bun, wrung her hands as she gazed dejectedly out the window as snow fell softly in the night sky. Her husband, a short, muscular man with slicked back salt and pepper hair, stood with a hand on the fireplace mantlepiece. He huffed cigar and stared into the fire with burning intensity. The woman's worried green eyes analyzed the man standing in front of the warm fire.
"Anthony…how…how could this have happened?" She asked her voice trembling.
He turned his dark, brown eyes to meet hers and his face softened.
"Oh, mon cher. Come here." He murmured putting out his cigar and throwing it away, before opening his arms.
She walked into his welcoming arms and basked in the comfort of his embrace before saying tearfully,
"Your French is still terrible…even after all these years."
"Would you prefer I say, Mi Amore?" He said a grin evident in his voice as he rubbed her back soothingly.
"At least you can pronounce that one correctly." She snorted playfully as he tilted her head lovingly and brushed the tears from her eyes.
"How could this have happened?" She questioned. "I wasn't aware that we had a…"
"No." He said quickly with a shake of his head. "The only shipment for today were baked goods…nothing more."
She nodded biting her lip and gazing back to the window by the front door…half expecting her granddaughter to come bounding into the house with all the energy of a Canadian snowstorm. A bright smile on her face and those untamable, blonde curls bouncing her wake.
"I'm so worried…she's not ready for this. She's not built for this…"
"Marguerite. She is a Fournier…but she is also a Rossi. She is sturdier than she looks. And…she has to know someday if she is to run the family business. It's inevitable." Anthony corrected her firmly.
"I know…and you know, we were both planning on telling her soon. But…now she's been found with illegal weapons? And customs no longer has her and won't even tell us where she went! It's like she vanished. Is this…is this a personal attack?" She asked her husband willing the tears from her eyes.
"Possibly…but I wouldn't worry." Her husband said softly gently stroking her hand and bringing it up for a soft kiss.
"It's…it's not HIM is it?" She whispered.
His eyes turned cold and stony at that.
"No…that coward ran back home a while ago. He hasn't been seen anywhere near New York since then."
"I just…I worry for her."
"I know. I know." Anthony murmured kissing her forehead reverently before saying brightly,
"Why don't you bake some of those chocolate filled croissants I like so much? Baking always seems to calm you down anyways."
"Pain au Chocolat?" Marguerite asked with a wry grin.
"Yeah, those!" He said with a boyish smile.
She rolled her eyes and swatted his shoulder,
"You're lucky I love you so much, mon amour."
"Forty years of marriage, I should hope so." He teased back.
She softly kissed him on the lips before bowing her head and whispering,
"Just…please get her back, Anthony. I can't lose another child."
He hugged her tightly and said with such conviction,
"Don't worry. We won't lose her. She'll be fine. You'll see."
She gave him a small sad smile before finally heading to the kitchen to begin baking. The man watched her go, an ache in his heart seeing his wife so worried. He bit back his anger at whoever had taken his granddaughter and this anger urged him onwards.
He walked up to the phone hanging on the wall in the living room and dialed a number.
" 'ey Boss!" A male voice said picking up quickly.
"How did this happen, Vinnie? We didn't have a shipment scheduled." Anthony growled into the phone getting straight to the point.
"No, we didn't." The voice agreed. "But I talked to the boys at the border and they found out somethin' real interestin'."
"What?" Anthony asked curiously.
"Those guns that were in the truck…they're definitely not ours. I was worried that some newbie, dunderhead may 'ave accidentally loaded the truck on the wrong day."
"Are you sure they're not ours?"
"Absolutely, boss."
"How are you so sure?"
"Because…they're Mann Co." The voice answered smugly.
This caused Anthony to freeze. The wheels in his head turning.
"Mann Co?" He asked incredulously.
"Yeah, I swear. They 'ave Mann Co written all over 'em. The boxes. The guns. Hell, they even got receipts."
"Is there a name on the receipts?" Anthony asked, wondering if his granddaughter's assailant was genuinely stupid.
"Nah. Whoever set up our girl was at least smart enough to keep that hush hush. Howeve'…you and I both know that Mann Co ammunition and weapons are trash, right? Well…these guns are the cheapest possible. In fact, I doubt that they even sell these on the market. Not the legal market…or the black market." Vinnie continued. "I've never seen these models. I doubt they even work right. Though that's not sayin' much considerin' the manufacturer."
"Are you saying…"
"I'm sayin' I got some of our boys doin' some research. These aren't common weapons from this company."
"So, we research the serial number…"
"Yeah. And we should find the buyer."
"And if we cannot?" Anthony inquired.
"Don't worry, chief." Vinnie said confidently. "The boys at da border got hold of the footage of the woman Lisa left with."
"And has anything turned up with that?" Anthony asked rubbing his black mustache thoughtfully.
"Nothin'. Almost like she don't exist…though we both know if records are scraped that clean that it just means-"
"That they don't wanna be found." Anthony surmised.
"Exactly." Vinnie agreed.
"What about the vehicle?"
"Camera's placed on the outside of the station were tampered with. No footage of the car."
Anthony hummed thoughtfully.
"Don't worry boss. We'll get 'em." Vinnie ensured.
"I know…I just hope sooner rather than later."
"If I know anythin' about dealin' with Mann Co, which I do, it's that the current owner doesn't sell to just anyone. Ya gotta have some serious cash…which is beyond me for the quality but that's beside the point. So, suppose he has a client…they don't have the bank to pay for the usual supply, but Mr. Mann Co doesn't wanna lose a customer even if they aren't the ritz. Why? Because if he doesn't supply them, then that means they'd go to the competition. They get a betta deal…realize Mann Co's weaponry is trash and Mann Co. is now in hot water as news of this spreads. What would he do to prevent dat?"
"Give them the faultiest guns he has and charge them the highest price he can for them." Anthony replied.
"Exactly. The numbers on these receipts are astronomical for the garbage in these boxes but all things considerin'…it was probably the best deal they could get."
"And seeing that this is Mann Co., the worlds largest weapons manufacturer in the world…"
"Yeah…I doubt they have too many clients like dis. It shouldn't be too hard to weed through their list of regular clients."
"What makes you think they're regular?"
"Almost everyone who purchases from Mann Co is a regular. It's near cult like if ya ask me." Vinnie snorted derisively.
"Good work, Vincent. This is why you're my right hand." Anthony stated with approval.
"No worries, boss." Vincent replied brightly before sobering, "And…uh, Boss. Jus' so ya know…we're all worried for Lisa. She's part of da family too." His voice darkened before saying, "And no one messes with da family."
"No…no they don't." Anthony agreed his eyes darkening with controlled anger.
(Back at Teufort).
"So…Medic and Pyro are the only ones who don't cook?" Lisa asked as she and Scout continued their way to Engie's garage.
"Yeah, see…Pyro likes flames too much and Medic's cooking was actually really good…until we realized he was experimenting on us." Scout said nonchalantly.
"What? Seriously?!" Lisa gasped.
"Yeah." Scout laughed. "He would sneak different chemicals into the food to see how our bodies would react to them. I forget what else we did but then we kindly took him off the cooking schedule."
"Huh. Well…maybe I could cook sometime." Lisa said thoughtfully.
Scout lit up at this.
"Really?! You can cook?"
"Ummm…yeah. I can bake too." Lisa said shyly.
Scout whooped and said,
"Aw yeah! Dinner and dessert?! You're definitely bein' put on da list. And I am expectin' a great meal when it's your turn."
"We'll see. I'll do my best." She replied to his enthusiasm pushing down a smile. "I can cook alright, but baking is my specialty."
"Really? What kinds of things do you bake? Because…MAN…I could go for some fresh baked goodies. Haven't had any since I last visited my Ma."
"I mean…I can bake pretty much anything. A recipe is helpful, but I have quite a few memorized."
"I am makin' you a list of things to bake." Scout said pointing at her enthusiastically.
Lisa couldn't help but laugh at how excited he was.
"Alright. I'll do my best when we have down time. Payment for baseball lessons, right?"
"Yeah! That works!" Scout replied with a smile.
They both then walked down the metal stairs into a large open garage.
"Oh! There they are! Come over 'ere you two!" Engie called from below.
He was standing at a worktable with Miss Pauling and Scout and Lisa headed towards them. On the table lay a backpack, a baton and a pistol both with their own holster.
"What's all dis?" Scout asked.
"Backups weapon kit." Miss Pauling stated with a smile.
"Alright. See here?" Engie asked Lisa handing Lisa the baton. "This is one of your two main weapons. You're right-handed aren't ya?"
Lisa nodded as she accepted the weapons.
"Then put this one on your right. The gun on your left. You're going to rely on your pistol more than your baton…unless it's hand to hand combat in which case I'd go with the baton."
Lisa strapped them in. She held the gun with slight apprehension but managed to hide it well. It'd been a long time since she held a pistol.
"And finally, there's this." Miss Pauling stated holding the backpack up.
It resembled a vintage, swiss army rucksack backpack. Sturdy material with multiple pockets.
"It has multiple storage spaces for ammunition and the best part is inside." The Engineer said with excitement.
Miss Pauling opened it to reveal a metal contraption…it reminded Lisa of the machine she had seen earlier entering the building.
"A mini teleporter?" Scout asked in bewilderment.
"Yes. But it's for weapons." Engineer stated.
"As you know, she's backup. When one of you goes into respawn…she will fill your role for that brief time."
"Really?" Scout asked in astonishment.
"Well…that's the hope. She will receive versions of equipment and weapons of whoever is in respawn through the teleporter. Her carrying all those weapons at once just isn't feasible."
"Right." Miss Pauling agreed. "Though they won't be the exact same. Spy for instance. He has an invisibility cloaking device, disguise kit and a pistol as well as a butterfly knife. Backup will receive the invisibility device, nothing more. She is only trying to fill in until the real spy can come back. She will always carry the baton and pistol with herself though."
"Alright." Lisa replied feeling a bit overwhelmed with all this new information.
"Don't worry your head over it." Engineer stated kindly. "I'll show you how to do basic maintenance on my machines should they be down, so you can keep 'em runnin' until I get back. You won't have to worry about settin' up the sentry or tearin' em down or nothin'."
"That's good. I appreciate that, since I don't know much about machines…but there are roles I'm really concerned about filling in for…since I wasn't entirely aware of the extent of my job as backup. Heavy for instance…he's huge. I'm not sure I can fill his shoes." Lisa said trying to sound confident. "And Medic. I'm not a doctor and don't know medicine."
"As I said, you are only filling a role until they can come back. You will get a smaller machine gun when you are filling Heavy's role and the Medic usually isn't too far behind and can hopefully ubercharge you so that you can hold the BLU's back until Heavy respawns. And you won't need to deal with a Medigun when you are Medic. You will have a syringe gun and some med kits on you. It'll be fine." Miss Pauling explained with a dismissive wave.
"These weapons appear as the roles go into respawn, right? Will I fill multiple roles at once? And is there anyway I can practice with these weapons?"
"No. You will only fill the role of the first person in respawn. Then when they come back you will switch to the next person in respawn. Et cetera. Your weapons from the backpack will disappear when that role is up and you have a new one. If no one is in respawn, you are simply Backup and you have your baton and pistol to defend yourself with."
"Alright…but I can practice with these weapons…right?" Lisa asked searchingly.
"Oh of course. They'll be in the training room to practice with." Miss Pauling said with a nod.
Lisa shrugged the backpack onto her shoulders and fastened it tightly.
"MAGGOT! IT IS TIME TO BEGIN YOUR TRAINING!" A loud voice boomed from atop the metal staircase leading into the garage.
Everyone turned to see Soldier standing at the top with a large maniacal grin on his face under his large lop-sided helmet. Lisa gazed back at him in fearful apprehension.
"What does that mean exactly?" She whispered to the people around her.
"Oh, well, it probably means he has made a horrifying training ground of every torture and weapon imaginable." Scout said with an amused grin and gave her a pat on the back. "He does this for all the new people who join. I remember mine. I was put in respawn four times before I finally completed it. Good luck."
She glared back at the young man but before she could say anything, her arm was roughly yanked, and she was pulled away by the very eager Soldier.
"We should probably follow them." Engineer stated in tired resignation.
"We should. I think this should be a very interesting display of her skills." Miss Pauling said her eyes alight with interest.
"Well, then…by all means, ladies first." Scout stated with a dip and tipping his hat playfully.
Miss Pauling then headed after the fleeting form of Soldier and Backup while Engineer followed.
"I'll go rally everyone else." Scout shouted after following them a while and began to head to go get everyone.
"Wouldn't hurt to grab some popcorn, either." He said to himself with an amused grin as he hustled to gather the team.
Author's note: Hey everyone! I hope you've been enjoying my story. Please let me know what you think in the comments! They really make my day.