It was still early in the day, the front lines had yet to break and the Engineer found himself alone, as he had been for the past week and a half. After the first few days of quiet Pyro had apparently decided he could take care of things without help and had gleefully gone off lighting people ablaze elsewhere. He did miss the company in the echoing corridors but there really was no sense in just keeping the firebug here. Not with the BLU Spy still absent from the skirmishes. It was starting to seem the snake was never going to turn up again.
The Texan sighed and looked at the sentry scanning the room, beeping cheerily to itself. It should be alright for a while he decided, picking up his tool box. He was just going to set up a dispenser closer to the front lines and come back. Might as well try to be useful instead of standing here gathering dust.
Walking up the hall he could hear the faint sounds of explosions and gun shots from outside. But the chaos would soon break the lines and press further into the building. He caught a whiff of smoke as he climbed up the stairs, the fighting must be closer than he'd originally thought.
There was a sharp yell and the Texan froze on the landing as a rocket roared past his nose, missing whatever it had been aiming for, and sailed on down the hall. Moving quickly, he ducked behind the nearest outcropping that provided some cover. He had begun setting up the Dispenser when Demo dove behind the same partition.
"Did anyone slip past yah, lad?" the man panted through grit teeth while reloading his grenade launcher.
"What?" Engineer looked up briefly from his work. "No - I didn't see-" a sudden outbreak of gunfire cut him off.
Demo peered around the corner and shot off a grenade - it bounced down the hall and went off with an explosion, yells and a rather moist splatter. He ducked back behind the outcrop as the Texan put the finishing touches on the dispenser. The machine came to life with a reassuring hum. Leaning cautiously out of cover, Engineer glanced up and down the hall and was just about to make a break for it when the Scotsman grabbed his arm.
"Watch yerself," the man rasped, leaving the the strong scent of liquor hanging in the air, "Backstabbin' snake's out there."
"Oh," Engineer swallowed, his mouth going dry. Was the bastard back? Had BLU replaced him? Not that it mattered, of course. These were stupid questions. "I'll keep a lookout." he said in what he hoped was an assertive tone. Making a break for it, he pulled his pistol from its holster and bolted for the stairway before more shots were fired.
"YE WEE LASSES READY FOR SOME REAL FIGHTIN!?" the Scotsman's battle cry echoed off the walls before being drowned out by the sound of battle. The Texan quickened his pace down the stairs, no sense waiting around for trouble to find him. Not when he could face it under better circumstances.
Once at the bottom of the stairs he glanced up - in time to see a baseball bounce down the stairs unattached to its owner. It seemed Demo was holding off the onslaught on his own. Satisfied his assistance wasn't needed, Engineer made his way back to the intelligence, to his sentry. He had already turned the corner when he realized he wasn't hearing the beep of the sentry. Someone had gotten past him.
"Dammit!" the Texan jogged down the corridor, knowing that he was probably already too late to save his handiwork. Skidding around the last corner he spotted his sentry. He scrambled to it, wrench in hand and fumbled to knock the sapper off, but the gun exploded in his face. Bits and pieces of fizzled wire and metal scraps fell around him. With a sigh he looked up from the wreckage and saw that the briefcase had already been taken.
I love Irene, God knows I do, the radio crackled, I'll love her till the seas run dry.
"If she ever loves another, I'm gonna take morphine and die" Engineer sang idly along with the tune on the radio, kneeling on the workshop floor. He sorted through the crates of salvaged parts looking for that one perfect piece, he remembered seeing it the other day. It would be just right to repair the damage to the sentry's barrel. It was either that or he would have to machine a whole new one.
He hadn't seen hide nor hair of the saboteur after the attack this afternoon; but the grumbles from the rest of the team indicated he had been busy causing trouble for other folks. From the familiarity the attacker had with everyone's strategies and habits, it seemed likely this was the Spook and not some greenhorn replacement. His sudden absence and reappearance had caught RED flatfooted as they had just started settling into the idea that their teammates might not actually be assassins in disguise.
But where had Spy gone? And why? It wasn't his business, he had no reason to know. That didn't stop his mind from gravitating on the mystery. The Texan hummed a little louder as he sorted through the metal scrap, intent on trying to focus on the task at hand and not let himself get side tracked.
Goodnight Irene, Goodnight Irene, I'll see yo-. There was an audible click and suddenly the room was silent. Engineer jerked his head from his work to see Spy standing next to the radio.
"You!" he blurted, scrambling to his feet, scrap metal in hand.
"Monsieur Cowboy" Spy replied with a smile that seemed less smug than usual. Though he could have been imagining it.
"Where have yah been?" the irritated question tumbled out of the Texan's mouth before he could catch it. It was a stupid question, not worth asking. The French bastard wasn't going to tell him. Chewing the inside of his lip he looked down at the sentry on the workbench.
"I've been away," came the expected vague answer. Engineer glared as the snake continued. "My Grand'Mere died you see, and I had to go pay my respects and-"
Engineer snorted, "Just say yah ain't goin' to tell me instead of lyin'." he coldly cut the no doubt elaborate story short. He wasn't in the mood for stories or games.
Spy gave him a look of wounded surprise and started to reply, but the Texan pushed furiously on before the man could get a word in.
"Ah know we're enemies. Ah know that. But yah coulda' at least given me the courtesy of knowin' yah weren't dead. Ah knock your head off and don' see yah for weeks! Are yah alive? Are yah dead? Was there a glitch? Did yer contract end? Ah don' know-" His mouth had run out of steam and his mind had begun catch up with his words. "Ah just-" he trailed off awkwardly uncertain what to say.
There was a long pause and Engineer crossed his arms, preparing for the inevitable laughter at his foolishness.
"…You were worried about me?" the Frenchman asked his voice husky. The expression on the man's face was hard to read but it looked almost...what? Thoughtful? Hopeful?
"I… uh…" he fumbled for a reply, "Uh… Ah suppose. So what are yah doin' here?" He asked, abruptly changing the subject.
"I just came to say bonjour, and to give you a souvenir." Reaching into his jacket pocket the man pulled out an object and handed it to the Texan. Woodenly, he accepted it still unsure what was going on.
Looking down at his hands he found himself staring at a teddy bear. Somehow he hadn't expected this. Not that he had expected the Spook to bring him a souvenir. But if he had, he wouldn't have expected a toy bear. Something useless perhaps, like a silk handkerchief, or something expected like a knife in the back. Not a child's toy. It was wearing a hard hat and goggles. And red overalls.
He stared blankly at it, at a loss for words, then glanced back up at the Frenchman who seemed outrageously pleased with himself. He looked down at the bear again. Was this a joke? A trick? A bomb? A trap? Was it poisoned? Drugged? That seemed more likely. The toy was drugged, and he had accepted it with his bare hands like an idiot. Any minute now he was going to pass out and find himself dragged off to who knew where. Or the snake was going to laugh and reveal some sort of plot that he'd been hatching for months.
There was a moment or two and he found himself still lucid and undrugged, the bear hadn't started ticking and the Spy hadn't begun cackling.
So this was a joke.
"Tryin' to say somethin' about me?" The question came out sharper than he intended. "That ah 'm soft and stupid?"
"Soft an -" Spy trailed off, seemingly baffled at his offense. "Non! No, no Monsieur nothing of the sort! I merely was-" there was a pause as the Frenchman appeared, oddly enough, at a loss for words. "I meant… you see - I was in Toulouse and… well… it was- raining and-well … the bear… and the goggles... helmet-" the man gestured at the bear with an almost desperate expression.
"Ah see," he finally said, cutting off the strange explanation. He felt like he was supposed to say something even though he didn't understand what was going on. "Thank yah" he added quietly, staring back down at the strange gift. When he glanced up Spy was nowhere to be seen. "Spah?"
As if in response his waste bin fell over with a clatter, spilling its contents all over the floor. Setting the bear down on the table, he rushed over to pick up the mess. He was so absorbed collecting discarded drawings and picking up old screws and shop rags he didn't hear the workshop door shut with a soft click.
That could have gone better, Spy cringed, creeping invisibly up the basement steps. He wasn't quite sure what he'd been hoping to accomplish. But there was no doubt that whatever he had intended, it could have gone more smoothly. More coherently at least. With less stumbling. It had been a fool's errand to begin with. Why had he even bothered to come down here?
But he had wanted to see the Texan in a setting where he didn't have to fight or kill him. Wanted to speak to him, hear his voice, see his face. See if the man's pull on his thoughts had lessened. Instead he found himself tongue tied and uncertain of what he had wanted. Or expected. They were enemies after all. The Texan had knocked his head off the last time they faced each other on the battlefield. Trying to do anything with this was ridiculous. Hopeless. There were so many factors and reasons he should let this go. Try to forget, move on. Eventually this would fade. It would have to. It would be for the best.
Footsteps echoed up the hall, and Spy ducked into a storage closet, hiding himself in the dark while he waited for the figure to pass. But the cowboy had missed him, he suddenly realized. Grinning to himself, he leaned on the door to listen for man had missed him and wondered where he'd been. Worried about him!
He glanced back down to his watch, the cloak was fully charged and the sound of footsteps had passed beyond earshot. Taking a breath, he suppressed the smile and tried to focus on the job at hand, it wouldn't do to get distracted now. He had other things to worry about. He pulled his disguise kit out of his pocket and after a moment's hesitation selected the best mask for the job.
The Engineer came out of the closet and hurried on down the hall towards the barracks. The real Texan was busy in his workshop so there was little chance their paths would overlap and raise alarm.
Once in the barracks he went straight for the phone and pulled a screw driver out of his pocket. After a bit of fumbling he managed to get the front panel open revealing a mass of wires and connections. He didn't recognize much of the phone's innards but at least knew enough to install a simple wire tap. Glancing around the hall, he made sure no one was around as he pulled the listening device out of his pocket.
It was late evening and most of RED had settled down into their rooms most of them would never even know he'd been here. If they did, they probably wouldn't pay attention to the sight of the Engineer tinkering with the phone.
Removing one of the wire connections to the receiver he carefully began working the wires of his bug into the cables.
"'Ey, Truckie," the RED team's Sniper called to him strolling up the hallway. It was a moment before the Frenchman realized who the man was talking to.
Spy looked up from his work and feigned a smile, "Howdy," he congratulated himself on his perfect impersonation of the cowboy.
"Blower's clapped' out again?" the man asked conversationally.
Spy chose to grunt in response as he went back to the mass of wires, trying to remember where the other connection he needed to make was. The Australian apparently took his grunt as an invitation to talk.
"How long do ya think it's gonna take?"
"Hold yer horses, pardner," he mumbled. It had been far too long since he had done this sort of job. And the man hanging around wasn't helping his concentration at all.
"'S me mum's birthday." Sniper leaned on the wall, pulling his cigarette pack out of his vest idly tapping one out. "'Said I'd give 'er a ring." he said holding the cigarette between his teeth. Digging around in the pocket of his trousers he flicked out a cheap lighter.
It occurred to Spy that the Texan would probably say something in response to this, but he wasn't sure what. The man was cordial and polite to most of his teammates. It was only him that the Engineer snapped at.
"Ah said hold yer horses. Ah'm doin' this as quick as ah can." this was probably a bit brusque, but the bushman was too busy lighting his cigarette to notice. Spy glanced up to examine the man for a moment before returning to his work. There had been a time when he would have climbed that man like an exotic tree, if only he didn't smell like a public toil- "Ah-HAH!" the Frenchman smirked to himself as he finally found the elusive wire.
"So ye got it patched up?"
He grunted an affirmative, deftly connecting the wire tap and tucking it behind the wires. He couldn't hide it, but he could make its presence less obvious. Unable to test it with the Sniper in front of him he began to reattach the panel. He'd have to return later to check it. But now, the bushman was watching and the smell of the man's cigarette was reminding him of how long it had been since he'd had his last smoke. Regretfully he couldn't remember seeing the cowboy smoke, and it wouldn't do to attract attention and destroy his disguise.
He snapped the panel back on, lifted the phone receiver and was relieved to hear a dial tone. "It's all yers," he grinned and stepped back.
"Thanks Truckie, ya sure you don' need it?"
"Nah, I'm fine." he said ambling his way up the hall, turning invisible once out of the marksman's sight. He needed out of here, away from the barracks, away from the base. Eagerly, the Frenchman slipped out the side door of the base and into the safety of evening. The job was done and he badly needed a cigarette.
The metal detector went over the bear without any sort of beep or reaction. The same thing had happened when the Texan checked it over for tracking devices. Or listening bugs. Neither was it radioactive, conductive, or as far as he could tell explosive or poisonous. It smelled of nothing more suspicious than Spy's cologne and cigarettes.
He had debated about running the thing through an x-ray machine but that would require talking to Medic. To all surface tests the gift looked to be exactly as it appeared. A simple child's toy. But it seemed so strange for the enemy Spy to give him a child's toy without some sort of ulterior motive. Only one way to be sure... He stretched the bear out on a clear patch of the work table and pulled a utility knife from his tool belt.
With a frown the Texan poised the blade over the bear's stomach to gut it. The bear looked up, smiling at the ceiling, oblivious to the horrible fate that was about to befall him. The blade faltered.
It was a stuffed toy, Engineer reminded himself. Given to him by the enemy Spy. Fabric and fluff and probably a nasty surprise inside. He brought the knife against the toy's stomach, ready to slice the victim open. Fabric and fluff. And only the snake knew what else. The light glinted off the bear's little button goggle eyes, the bear smiled blissfully on.
Fabric and fluff.
"Dammit," the Texan set the knife aside with a sigh. He was a grown man, and it was an inanimate object, no matter how cute. There was no reason to feel guilt, or attachment. "Dammit." He picked the bear up prodding it roughly, there certainly appeared to be nothing inside the bear but stuffing. For whatever reason the Spook had given it to him, it seemed to be harmless enough.
He dropped the bear on the table and massaged the bridge of his nose. He had other things to do, a sentry to rebuild, a skirmish to prepare for in the morning. He should have just dumped the bear, not spend all this time checking it over for threats. Looking back at the work table, he sat the bear up properly and straightened it's little hardhat.
"Well Teddy, if yer gonna stick around ah'll need to put you someplace." Examining the room his eyes finally rested on his modified dispenser in the corner, peacefully humming away. He set the bear gently on top of the dispenser, next to his coffee mug and radio.
"That'll do, I suppose," The Texan said with a faint smile before turning back to his work.
