A/N: Ditto.
Me: Ok what did we learn here? 'squeezes Scout's head under sole of foot'
Scout: 'mumbles' Never to insult you in front of the readers.
Me: What was that? I couldn't hear you over the barking of those molten hot hell hounds over there.
Scout: That I am a stupid idiot who needs to control his mouth.
Me: That's right. 'notices readers' Oh hi there, so I caught Scout a little faster than I anticipated, so here's the next chapter. Thanks to eren jeager 1st and CapitalClassShip for following and faving.
Scout: Can I go now?
Me: No, now put this Robin costume on.
Scout: What? That horrible thing? You must be crazy.
Me: Do it or else my hellhounds are going to have Boston pizza tonight; with extra sauce.
Scout: 'sighs' You are so cruel.
Arc II: The Rescue
"TIIIAAAA! Where are you?" shouted Tai. The Teleporter sister has been looking for her twin for the past hour and haven't seen her since. "C'mon Tia, you promised to practice in our alt-forms today, where are you?"
"Can't you tell some people want to sleep?" grumbled Stella from the couch.
"Have you checked everywhere?" Debbie asked.
"Yeah I did," Tia went on to explain she literally turned the entire RED base on its head just to find Tia. She looked in every room, under beds, in closets, in the training room, in the briefing room, the garage, the roof, the basement.
"Wait we have a basement?" asked Soldier, who was walking by.
"Yeah, you don't know?"
"Hmm, maybe that's where Merasmus' hat is, stupid wizard always loses his things and blames it on me! HA! Joke's on him," he proceeded to march away.
"Anyways, I looked everywhere in the RED base and I can't seem to find her,"
"Maybe she wants some alone time," suggested Stella. "You two are always together 24/7, twins need breaks from each other sometime you know that?"
"Stella," Tai said sternly. "We are just not any twins, were TELEPORTER TWINS. If I can't function, she can't and visa versa,"
"Why don't you see if K-9 can find her, he's probably the closest to you two," said Debbie.
"Hey, why didn't I think of that earlier? Thanks Deb!" she said as she teleported out.
"No prob!" Debbie turned to Stella. "You're a downer you know that?"
Her response in turn was only snoring.
Debbie sighed. "Fucking lazyass,"
Tia sat on a rock some distance from the RED base. She would sometimes teleport somewhere out here to be alone and away from the chaos from the REDs, she didn't dislike the chaos the REDs and her sister caused, but sometimes, she just wanted silence.
"So peaceful," she whispered as she watched a flock of birds fly above her. "Too bad it can't be like this everyday," she said with a sigh.
"I know right?"
Tia jumped at the voice, and fell off the rock because of it. She groaned as she rubbed her head as she got up. She found the source of the voice, who was sitting on the rock.
Her alt-self.
"Sorry if I scared you," Tia-X said sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head.
"I-it's ok," Tia said as she got back up. "So what brings you here?"
"For the silence, like you," she said. "You know how the others are,"
"Yeeeaah," images of the X's quickly flashed through Tia's mind. "We're pretty mild aren't we?" compared to the others, Tia and Tia-X were not as violent as their sisters and their counterparts.
"You could say that," said Tia-X.
A brief silence bloomed between them; the sound of the wind could only be heard.
"How do you do it?" Tia asked after a while.
"Do what?"
"You know...stand up to that...thing-the robot,"
Tia-X turned to face her. "I presumed that you were scared right?"
Tia nodded.
"Tia, the only thing to be afraid of is fear itself, and fear is something that's inside you, you get where I'm going?"
"That's not really answering-"
"Never mind that," Tia-X quickly said. "Were you scared when you ran out to pick up your twin?"
"Well, to be honest, not really,"
"And did you have a particular feeling of bravery, concern, determination?"
"Yes..."
"As if you had a duty to protect your twin?"
"That-oh..."
"I think you just answered your own question,"
Another brief silence.
"If I'm not mistaken..." said Tia-X. "Didn't you promise your twin something today?"
"What do you-oh shoot! I forgot!" Tia said as she got off the rock. "Uh, nice seeing you!" she turned and started to run away. She looked back to see if Tia-X was still there.
She wasn't.
Tia scrambled down a small depression, and clambered over some rocks. She would have used her teleportation powers to get back to RED base, but she didn't feel like using them. She ran across the desert terrain, the sun beating down on her. She didn't mind the heat; most of the battles RED and BLU fought were located in such weather, with the exception of maps like Snowplow and MountainLab.
Tia mentally cursed herself for letting her plans with Tai slip her mind. Her twin must be worried sick on where she was.
The smell of smoke broke Tia out of thought and she looked up. In the distance, she could see plumes of smoke rising from the RED base.
"Oh no," she thought as she ran faster.
When she arrived the base, it looked as if was in a battle between the REDs and BLUs. Windows were shattered, massive holes were visible in the walls of the concrete base, piles of dead bodies of men wearing gas masks and black tactical gear littered the ground, and smoke bellowed from various places around the base.
Tia tried to piece together what may have happened when she heard a groan. She looked around for the source and found Engi, whose leg was trapped under a piece of concrete. The Texan was cut up and bruised.
"Tia...you're ok..." he said between breaths.
"Engi!" she said as she went over to him. "What happened here, where is everyone, are you ok..." she would've gone on if Engi hadn't stopped her.
"I'll try to tell you what happened, just...get this thing off of me,"
Tia grabbed him by the hand and teleported a few feet away from where Engi was lying. Engi grunted when he put pressure on this injured leg. Tia helped him by slowly lowering him to the ground, so he could sit.
"Thanks,"
"Yo guys, found Engi!"
Scout hobbled into view with Soldier and Heavy trailing slightly behind him. All three men looked beat up and wounded.
"What-what happened here?" Tia asked.
"AMBUSH!" shouted Soldier. "The enemy was able to catch us off guard! A DISGRACE!"
"Men come in and start shooting," Heavy said.
"AND THAT'S NOT ALL! THEY HAD ROBOTS!"
"Are my sisters safe?"
All three men shot each other nervous looks.
"Well, ah, sweetheart..." Scout started to say.
"They were taken," Engi bluntly said. "Stella, Debbie, Tai, and K-9...they-they took them..."
Flashback
Everything was fine at the RED base. Everyone was lounging around waiting for dinner. In reality, this was most likely the quietest it has ever been at the RED base.
Stella lied on the couch asleep, hat over her head. Normally in order to wake Stella up from her nap, it would take several hundred threats from Debbie plus several buckets of water.
This was different however.
This is one of those times when Stella is able to get up on her own, much to her annoyance. She hated when that happened; it took her forever to fall back asleep when she did that,
She tossed and turned on the couch, trying to fall back asleep, but no avail. She lifted her hat so she could place it on her head, as she did something crashed through the window.
"Jezus!" she shouted.
"I heard the breaking of glass, is there an intruder?" Soldier asked as he peeked into the living room.
"I don't think so," Stella said as she walked over to the object. It was a cylinder-like object that was painted silver. She was about to pick it up when her instincts told her otherwise.
"Soldier..."
"What? We have an intruder?"
"No, run,"
"Why?"
The object suddenly turned red and started beeping.
"Oh," he said.
"Run away, run away, run a-w-a-y," she said as she grabbed Soldier by the collar as well as Demo, who was passed out on the living room floor, and ran out of the living room.
What could only be described as chaos plauged the RED base. The once quiet mercenary home was now being attacked by extremely advanced robots with extremely weaponry. Majority of the robots were bipedal and colored black, and each wielded a gun that shot a laser.
"Where the hell did they come from?" shouted Debbie over the sound of gunfire. "We should've heard them if there's this much of them,"
"Well we ain't making a dent in them," said Engi as he repaired his sentry. "It seems that they're reflecting everything we throw at them,"
"Hey why can you four just "power-up" or something and take them out?" asked Scout.
"We can't dumbass," said Tai as she blindly fired into the crowd of robots. "We tried already and we can't seem to transform; I think we're too tried from today's battle,"
"Did anyone see Tia?" Stella shouted as she slid behind the concrete barriers the others were hiding behind. "Tai I really hope you found her, cause she probably still strong enough to transform,"
"Sorry Stella, we couldn't find her," Tai replied. "Even K-9 couldn't sniff her out,"
"God fucking dammit TIA! Fucking coward!"
"She's not a coward!" Tai shouted.
"Oh really, then where the fuck is she?"
Before Tai could retort Debbie stepped in, "Oh will you two shut it! We can worry about Tia later, right now we're fighting homicidal robots,"
Suddenly a can-shaped object was thrown at the group and landed next to Scout.
"Uh, what is-"
The can beeped before spraying a white gas all over the group. It was a matter of seconds before they were all asleep.
"I should've been here," Tia said in-between sobs. "I could've turned the tides, I just know it," The RED team gathered in what used to be the living room and was now dicussing on what the hell just happened.
"Tia I doubt your arrival would have changed anything," said Medic as he trained his medi-beam on Engi. "Even I believe Tia-X would had been overwhelmed by the sheer number of robots,"
"Couple that with the four being down and the ambush, I don't think we would've held out for long," said Engi.
"Besides, you would've been captured too," said Scout.
"I'd rather be captured and with my sisters rather than free and alone," Tia replied, still choked up.
"Men and, uh, woman!" said Soldier. "Here are the facts as we know it: four of our teammates had been captured, we have no idea where they are, and I really want to kick the crap out of a robot- get a haircut, trashcans!"
Heavy placed a hand on Tia's shoulder. "Heavy promises to help find friends, and to crush anyone who hurt little Tia and her sisters,"
Tia was able to muster a smile to the Russian. "Thanks big guy,"
"No, we should all help," said Engi. "Stella, Debbie, Tai, and K-9 are all part of RED team; they mess with them, they mess with us,"
"Yay! More violence!" shouted Soldier.
"Wha-huh? More violins?" Demo said drunkenly. "What did I miss?"
"Nothing," said Spy. "But before we continue, I believe we should take shelter somewhere other than here,"
"Why?" asked Scout. "Like it's going to rain, we're in the middle of a des-"
Suddenly a flash of lighting ran across the sky, and a heavy downpour drenched the mercs.
"Scout," said Medic. "The next time I see you for your physical, expect a lot of needles,"
"WHAT!" shouted the BLU mercs.
"I'm sorry guys, but the REDs have to stay with you until their base is repaired," said Ms. Pauling.
"Are you sure there is no other place they can stay other than here?" asked BLU Scout. "I'd rather be pricked by Medic for an entire day than to have to share our base with the REDs,"
"Administrator's orders, Scout," she said. "If you fail to comply then she'll have to dock your pay,"
"Uh, how much are we going to be docked?" asked BLU Sniper.
"Seventy percent,"
BLU Medic screamed. "HOW WILL I AFFORD MY ORGANS THEN?" he shouted. "THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!"
"Heavy hates REDs, but Heavy needs money for family,"
"Oh me mother is not gonna like this,"
"I guess we have no choice guys," said BLU Engi. "We can't afford losing this much money; considering that half of us use it to support our families,"
"I guess so, but what about those new mercs? They absolutely hate us," said BLU Scout.
"About that," said Ms. Pauling. "After RED base was attacked, four out of five of the new additions were reported MIA by the REDs, and I believe she's the least likely to kill you on sight,"
"Oh that's a relief,"
"Yeah, having the REDs over was already bad enough," said BLU Engi. "I'd rather not share a living space with those...things,"
Somewhere else
"You idiots!" said a cold and heartless voice. The voice belonged to an aging man with a gray beard and a balding head. He wore a light blue dress shirt under a white lab coat. He wore khaki pants and black shoes. His brown eyes burned with fury at two men wearing suits. "You had one task of bringing the girl in and you FAILED at it!" he thundered. "Now I have the most powerful woman in the Western Hemisphere breathing down my neck because you two couldn't do a simple task!"
"B-b-but sir!" one man tried to say.
"No buts! I don't care about those other four. They fell to Prototype #1,018 and she took it out with little to no effort!" He slammed a fist down on a picture of Tia. "And this robot is capable to wiping out entire armies...or was," he gritted his teeth. "You two are dismissed..."
As the two men turned to leave, the man picked up a pistol with a silencer on his desk and shot both men in the head. They dropped to the floor, lifeless. He walked over to the dead men and bent down.
"Forever," he whispered into their ears.
He stood back up and walked back to his desk. He placed the pistol on the desk before sitting down and burying his face in his hands. A minute passed before he took his face out and picked up the picture.
He sighed. "I will stop at nothing to find out how you beat my latest creation," he said. "Even if it kills me," he picked up the phone on the desk and dialed a number. "Tell Rosalyn and Jill to report to me, I have a job for those two,"
Tai woke with a start. She took a moment to breath and collect her thoughts. She expected to be back at RED base with the others, but that wasn't the case.
"Oh how I wish that was a dream," she said as she took in her surroundings.
She was in a small, cell-like room made of concrete. Three of the four walls were solid concrete, while the fourth was some-kind of energy shield of some sorts. There was a bed, and a toilet/sink/desk. Tai figured she was dumped in here, considering she woke up on the hard floor.
She slowly got to her feet and dusted herself off, before moving towards the energy wall. She reached out to touch it, only to be zapped by it. She quickly pulled her hand back.
"Guess I'm going through it then,"
"I wouldn't do that if I were you,"
Tia stopped as she found herself staring at a small hovering drone that materialized in front of her. The drone had two blades at its sides, and a really threatening cannon on its underside.*
"You step outside of your cell and you're going to get shocked,"
"By who? You?"
"No, that collar you're wearing silly,"
"Wait, what?" Tai checked and found a metal collar around her neck.
"You should see how much it had to be used on that other girl we brought in with you, can't believe she's still alive,"
"Typical Stella," Tai thought. "How did you..." she started to ask.
"Know you were going to teleport?" the drone finished. "Let's just say we know a lot about you five, Tai,"
Tai was speechless, and her mouth hung open.
"Oh and if I were you, I'd do what they tell you," it said before it turned and started to fly away.
"Wait!" she shouted. "What's your name?"
The drone stopped and turned around. "Just call me Helio," it said before turning and flying off.
Tai watched until she could no longer see Helio** and turned to face a wall. "Goddammit!" she said as she punched it. "Tia, wherever you are. I hope you're safe,"
A/N: *Just imagine a standard over the counter drone.
**Helio is going to be referred as a female.
Scout: How much longer do I have to stay in this stupid thing?
Me: I dunno, maybe until I allow you to go. 'takes picture with camera'
Sniper: Heh, nice.
Soldier: Ha! You look like a girl!
Scout: 'sighs'
Me: 'to the readers' So got this chapter up for you all, and, spoilers, expect a lot of action next chapter. Let me just say, Tia is going to kick ass.
Tia: B-b-but I thought I did already...
Me: Nah, that pile of scrap was a pushover. The real deal is coming up next.
Tia: A p-p-pushover? Are you kidding?
Me: Well for me that is.
Tia: I am so screwed...
Me: Ah don't worry kid, you got this in the bag I just know it. 'takes another picture' Till next time readers!
-D.W