A/N: Ditto. Thanks to Shadowjonathan, BurlyClock, tayziwen, and Arsenal18 for following and favoriting!

The winner of the naming contest goes to... MisterDoctorSir! Congratulations to him and for everyone else who submitted names.

Debbie understood quite well why Stella did not really like her other self. One, it sapped all of her energy when she turned back to her normal self, but what she really didn't like about her other self was that her other self acted so differently. Sure she brave, and can handle situations on her own, but she wasn't a killing machine like Stella was, and she didn't see killing as fun as her other self did.

She also remembered how her other self kissed Engi. She mentally kicked herself when she saw it happen. She always wanted to keep it a secret, but at least no one else saw it right?

On the other hand, she couldn't help but feel more empowered when she was in this transformed state. It was like a kick-start of some sorts that unlocked her full potential, in fact, even she was impressed on how fast she made Delta, she decided to name the metal liquid robot that, without that boost it would probably take years for her to complete something like that.

On a secondary note, she and the others have yet to see the twins transform, a transformation no one really wants to see.

Why?

Well considering their chaotic and unpredictable nature, who knows how their other selves may be. Debbie knows how dangerous the twins could be, even when they were buildings. Telefrags could kill anyone, even when they are under an uber, making the Teleporters even more dangerous than the Sentry gun.

She looked to her right and found the twins playing with K-9 outside the garage. She was currently inside the garage trying to fix and upgrade Delta. It was hard, considering she lost her supercomputer memory when she turned back, but every now and then her other self would give her some advice on how to upgrade Delta.

She smirked at the three; the trio was almost inseparable. It was hard not to find one without finding the other two. She turned back to the metal ball and continued to work on it.

Meanwhile

The Administrator

She was a powerful woman.

She controlled the actions of both mercs from RED and BLU with an iron fist. Most mercs had never seen the Administrator before, and most probably will never, but all can recognize her voice. A voice filled with disgust and hatred towards the mercs. She hardly recognizes victories, but shames losses with a devastating tone of disappointment.

She was an older woman with aging black hair. She wore the color purple on her blouse and skirt. The woman sat on a chair in a control room filled with monitors and a large control panel. However, she wasn't the only person in the room.

"So you're still confident these mercs can defeat the Prototype?" said a voice from the darkness.

She took a long drag from a cigarette before responding, "Yes,"

"How can you be so sure about them winning?" asked another voice.

"These men had fought a mage, a giant eyeball, and an axe wielding psychopath," she said. "A simple robot like yours is just the same as that,"

"No it is not just a robot," said the first voice. "This is a mechanical masterpiece. This would reshape warfare in an entirely different way,"

"Exactly, less lives will be lost, humans can do other things then just fight,"

"But where is the fun in that?" the Administrator said in her usual monotone voice. She turned to face the unseen men. "These men make their livings by killing, and they are not going to let a machine take it," she turned back. "I've seen them, every single one of them. These men and women are not ordinary humans, and they cannot be replaced,"

"We'll see, we'll see," said the first voice.

She heard the two men leave, and turned to the intercom in front of her.

"Pauling?"

"Yes, Administrator?"

"Prepare the mercs, every single one of them,"

The RED and BLU teams were both in a small room together. Now this would be a concoction that would rival hell, but with some incredible restraint, both teams were able to prevent themselves from tearing each other apart.

The ones showing the most restraint were the buildings, considering they were programmed to fire anything colored blue, it was only natural that they would have a natural hatred of the BLUs as humans and animal.

"If something doesn't happen in the next minute, I am going to lose it," Stella said between gritted teeth. "And the Frenchman's going first,"

Luckily for everyone Ms. Pauling walked in, easing the tension a bit.

"This better be good Pauling," said BLU Sniper. "Couldn't stand being here anymore,"

"I couldn't stand seeing your kangaroo ass the moment you stepped in here, campfire!" said Soldier.

"What did you say, you rockethopping simpleton?"

"Oh I'm sorry, maybe if you were close to me like on the front lines, YOU WOULD'VE HEARD IT!"

THUD!

THUD!

Stella quickly quelled the argument by ramming both men's heads into the wall, effectively shutting them up.

"Thank you Stella," said Ms. Pauling. "Now we can start…"

"What are we doing?" asked Engi.

"Well today is going to be different then most matches…RED and BLU have to work together today,"

Uproar quickly dominated the once quiet room.

"This is madness!" said Scout. "Do you expect me to fight along side him?"

"No way!" said BLU Scout. "I will not fight with that RED copycat,"

The Teleporter twins looked at each other and nodded. They loudly whistled simultaneously and were able to restore order to the room.

"Look, this is only for a day guys and girls," said Ms. Pauling. "Besides, your job are on the line if you fail today,"

This got everyone's attention.

"Today you will be fighting a robot designed for warfare," she said. "This robot is no laughing matter as well. The creators said this robot could survive nuclear warfare if it has to,"

Silence was the only response.

"The Administrator believes you mercs could take this machine down," she continued. "The creators doubt her assumption," she paused for a second. "You cannot fail this mission, do whatever it takes to defeat this robot, else you may be replaced by a machine,"

Ms. Pauling walked out of the room, and the room was silent for a moment as the mercs looked at each other.

Today was not looking good for anyone.

"We will not let a robot take our jobs," Soldier said. "Do you understand that?"

RED team currently was in their planning room discussing on what they should do.

"Well for starters, it's not going to be easy," said Engi. "From what Ms. Pauling said this thing is going be heavily armored considering it's supposed to survive nuclear warfare, so it must be slow,"

"So we hit it hard and fast?" said Stella. "Sounds like a plan,"

"But remember," said Spy. "It could be heavily armored as well as fast, but we should all be on high alert and be ready to take on anything it throws at us,"

The mercs nodded.

"Where are we going?" asked Sniper.

"Arena 2Fort," said Engi. "But I've heard the Respawners are going to be active, so it isn't going to be an Arena match,"

"Let's get this over with," said Scout. "The faster we do this the faster we can get away from the BLUs,"

Time Skip

Arena 2Fort was similar to 2Fort, but with some modifications. First, both entrances to the intelligence rooms were closed off. Secondly, the water in the sewers had been drained, and makeshift stairs were added for easy access in and out of the drained sewers. Other than that the rest of 2Fort remained unchanged.

The RED spawns were more crowded than usual. The RED team was in the main spawn while the BLU team was in the battlement spawn.

Majority of the RED team stayed silent when getting ready, the only sounds were coming from their weapons.

"So we're going out with no plan?" asked Tia breaking the silence.

"Yup," replied Stella as she closed the cover of one of a machine gun ammo case. "Until we find out what this war machine is capable of, it's anything goes,"

"Attention mercs," the voice of the Administrator stopped what everyone was doing. "This battle will require both teams to work together," it sounded like she had a hard time saying this. "Protect our honor and kill this robot! Do not let me down,"

There was a brief pause.

"Mission begins in THIRTY seconds,"

The RED mercs got up and prepared to exit spawn.

"Let's do this," said Demo as he got into a battle stance.

"About time," said Stella. "My trigger fingers were getting itchy,"

Soldier cracked his neck.

"Twenty seconds…"

Engi looked at his PDA before pocketing it.

Scout checked the clip in his pistol.

"Ten seconds…"

The barrels of Tia's revolvers clicked.

"Five,"

"Four,"

"Three,"

"Two,"

"One…"

The siren sounded and the metal blast door of the spawn opened. The REDs made their ways to the battlements and found the BLUs doing the same thing. The Snipers and Engis stayed on the battlements while the others dropped down to the first floor, and met in front of the bridge.

Despite outnumbering the robot, everyone was still on edge and keep their weapons at the ready.

"Where is it?" whispered Tai.

"I don't know," said Debbie. "You got anything Sniper?"

Both Snipers gestured with their hands indicating they didn't see anything.

"So…who wants to see where it is?" Scout asked meekly.

"We'll go," said Spy. "We'll check out the main entrance, while another team goes in from the sewers, and another group stays here and makes sure those four up top are ok,"

"Sounds like a plan," said BLU Scout.

"Too bad you won't be needing it,"

The mercs turned to the source of the voice. It came from a large, humanoid figure from across the bridge. The figure was as tall, probably taller, than Heavy. It was heavily armored and wore a respirator-like mask and helmet. From the two eyeholes, an eerie green light shone through it.

"Uh Snipes?" said Scout. "How long was that thing standing there?"

"I-I don't know," said Sniper. "I was looking at the place where it was standing and it just…appeared there,"

"ATTACK!" shouted both Soldiers. Soldier rocketjumped across the canal while BLU Soldier fired at it across the bridge.

"GET A HAIRCUT, TRASHCAN!" Soldier shouted as he fired rockets from above the figure.

The rockets impacted the figure and the figure was soon engulfed in a flurry of smoke and explosions. As it cleared however, to the dismay to everyone, the figure was still standing, in fact, it looked like it didn't move at all.

"My turn," it said as a large sniper rifle appeared in its hand. It then pointed it at Soldier, who just landed on the BLU battlements.

"HIT THE DECK, SOLDIER!" Stella shouted as she jumped feet first into the robot so knock its aim away. But it didn't budge as she plowed into it, and landed on her back.

Luckily Soldier was able to duck in time as the robot fired. It fired a large laser beam that would've vaporized the American. But he didn't come out unscathed; well his helmet didn't at least. The headgear hovered in the air for a split second as Soldier ducked down and now had a large hole that went through the front and out the back of the helmet. Soldier took it off and groaned as he saw the damage done to it.

The figure turned to the mercs as bullets, grenades, and rockets pelted it, each having no effect on it.

"What the hell is that thing made of?" yelled Stella over the noise.

"I don't know," replied Debbie. "But whatever it is, it's fricking tough,"

The sound of the rifle charging up again caught everyone's attention, and everyone tried to scatter, but this time instead of firing off just a single shot, the rifle let out a continuous beam that cut down BLU Demo, Heavy, and Pyro.

"Any ideas guys?" Scout said as he spat out dirt.

"No," Medic said. He gasped, "Herr Spy is in danger!"

Spy uncloaked behind the figure and tried to backstab him, but his butterfly knife broke upon hitting the robot's back. The figure suddenly turned around and grabbed him by the neck. Tia teleported to Spy and was about to get him out of danger, when the robot smacked her with the back of its hand, sending her crashing into the fence barrier.

"TIA!" Tai yelled as she teleported over to her sister. She found her twin semi-conscious with blood coming from her head. "No, no, no Tia…"

"Ugh…should've seen that coming," she moaned.

At the same time, while the robot was distracted, Stella and K-9, in his anthropomorphic form, tackled the robot, freeing Spy, who retreated to the RED side.

"You are so dead," Stella said, her right eye glowing menacingly. K-9 only growled at the robot.

The robot threw the two off of him and stood up. Stella charged at it and swung a punch. The robot dodged it with ease and all the other punches she threw. It stopped dodging to throw a punch at her, which connected and sent her flying back to the RED side and into the structure.

Debbie was checking over Tia when she heard a crash and the splintering of wood. She turned to find Stella in a small hole in the wall of the building.

"I'm ok…" she heard Stella say. Debbie turned and saw K-9 currently going against the robot, which had somehow produced two swords. The other mercs were also trying to help by shooting at the robot whenever they can, but from what Debbie could tell, it wasn't doing much against the robot.

K-9 swiped at the robot and was able to land hits on the fast moving machine, but the thing can tank the powerful hits and deliver equally devastating hits back on the German Shepard.

"Stella," said Debbie. "K-9's not going to hold up much longer against that thing," she indicated to the large cuts on the bipedal canine.

Stella groaned as she got up from the rubble. "Man that thing can hit," she cracked her neck. "But I received worse, you ready to lay the hurt, Debbie?"

"Yup," she said as she finished healing Tia. "No one hurts my sister,"

K-9 was starting to pant and the wounds he received started to take their toll on the canine. He didn't know how this thing was able to withstand each blow, considering everyone else he fought simply died in one hit.

The robot jumped at him while swinging both swords, K-9 swiped at one sword, defecting it, but the other was able to graze him slightly on his left arm, adding to the multiple cuts he already had. The robot followed up with a flurry of slices and slashes, they became so fast that K-9 was unable to keep up his defenses and deflect each swing. The robot knocked him to the ground with a backhanded swing and would've finished him if not Delta sped in and blocked the stab.

The liquid metal robot was able to push the robot back away from K-9, as Stella-X and Debbie-X arrived.

"Take five, big fella," said Stella-X as she readied her minigun. "Our turn,"

Debbie-X quickly healed K-9 and aimed her rifle at the robot. K-9 nodded and headed back to the RED side.

The robot simply swung its swords around and charged the three.

Delta was the first to meet the robot and responded to its sword with a sword of its own. Both robots matched each move with their own, neither gaining the advantage nor losing ground. But Delta was able to find an opening in the robot's defenses and jabbed a blade into its chest, everyone thought it was over until the hole started to close up again.

"No way…" said Debbie-X.

"What the hell are you?" asked Stella-X.

Meanwhile

The Administrator looked at what was happening via a monitor. She saw all the events that transpired ever since the match started. It seemed that the mercs were having some difficultly with this robot, and with the recent event of it regenerating, it may seem that the mercs are going be in for the long run.

"Have you considered recanting what you said earlier?" a man wearing a black suit and sunglasses said.

"You should," another man wearing similar attire said. "Man cannot keep up with the superiority of machines,"

The Administrator didn't turn around to answer. Though she didn't show it, she was worried. Her faith in the mercs and the new arrivals were diminishing by the second as the robot cut down Stella-X. She internally groaned as she watched the monitors, it seemed that she was wrong for the first time in her life, that is, until something caught her eye.

The twins.

She never recalled those two ever transforming. Maybe…

She smirked.

Maybe she still had a trump card in her hand.

"Don't get your hopes up just yet, gentlemen," she said with her usual cold tone. "There are still many surprises that are to revealed,"

"You ok K-9?" asked Tai. "You took quite a beating there,"

"Yeah I'm ok," said K-9. "Is Tia ok? I'm more worried about her,"

The two looked at the unconscious Teleporter, Tia had passed out and was sleeping soundly despite the noise from the battle.

"She is, but I have no idea how she could sleep at a time like this,"

The sound of explosions, death screams, and the splintering of wood caught the two's attention. The robot was currently hacking away at the mercs, who stood little to no chance against the machine.

"Wait, where's Debbie and Stella?" said Tai. "Weren't they fighting the robot a couple of seconds ago?"

"They were,"

The two froze as their gaze turned them to the robot, which was standing a few feet from them. Blood stained and dripped from its metal body.

"I was expecting more of a fight from those three," it said as it started to walk towards them. "And those mercs, hah! Nothing more than pigs sent to the slaughterhouse,"

"What are you?" Tai said as she started backing up to Tia, her shotgun at the ready. K-9 got ready to pounce if the robot decided to attack.

"The next generation of soldiers," it said as it charged at Tai.

"Tai! Get outta here!" K-9 said as he tried to get in-between the two.

Tai grabbed Tia by her collar and teleported away just as a sword hit where she was standing.

"…"

"RAAAAAGGH!"

The robot turned and deflected a blow from an ubered K-9, and the two began fighting.

A/N: 'bangs head on table' Holy crap this was looooooong. This is by far the longest chapter I've written, 3k words. If you can't picture what the robot looks like think of it like the iconic Fallout armor. Also the transformed buildings' selves are now called their name plus 'X' added to it, it's so it clears up the confusion. Now excuse me while I write part two now...god I'm a workaholic.

Review Question: Any thoughts so far on the story?

Till next time,

-D.W