"So. Medic." Sniper said through the mouthpiece. "There may be some, uh, bad news."
Medic sighed, of course there was even more bad news.
"Ja?" He asked, dreading the answer. Then, it became apparent that the leaves slapping into his face had become wet leaves slapping with face. "Ach. Rain." He slapped a hand to his head.
"Ahah. Well." Sniper continued. "That's nothing. Truckie may or may not have created a tornado."
Demoman listened to the whole exchange.
"A tornado? I think Engie's finally impressed me a little bit." He commented.
"Soldier's in trouble, mate." Sniper added. "S'right behind him."
Demoman frowned trying to move faster. He was close to Engineer, and noticed how the gales pulled at him more forcefully.
"Why can't Soldier hear you?" He asked as he made his way to Soldier's position.
"Looks like he's screaming at Truckie. Hold up, let me try to get his attention." There was a brief moment of silence, and then Demoman watched something orange streak across the sky. He pressed down on the voice button.
"What the bloody hell was that?" He asked incredulously. Suddenly Soldier's voice came through on the channel.
"Sniper! Why did a carrot just hit m- holy Mary mother of Joseph." It sounded like Soldier finally saw the ungodly whirling vortex behind him.
"Alright, mates. I've got a clear visual on Truckie. S'got four fans on all sides of his truck, and three even bigger ones farther out and facing in. No idea how he managed to set all of that up in five minutes." Sniper said.
"Sol, don't worry lad, I'm coming over." Demoman assured.
"Objection, private! Follow the plan! Tornado or not, we are going to get this traitor!" Soldier refused. "I'm going in!"
"Hold your damn horses, Soldier." Sniper hissed. There was a resounding gunshot, and then the sound of something breaking down.
"Ooh! Nice job, private!" Soldier commended. Demoman assumed that Sniper had just shot the big fan in front of Soldier (although there was still a tornado behind him).
"Sol! Jesus, what are you doing?" Engineer called down to Soldier. Suddenly the fan facing Soldier exploded. Bits of metal flew as the rotors slowed to a stop. "What the-?"
Soldier looked like he let out a battle cry and began to climb up to the truck, which was positioned up on a massive power block that had been providing energy to the huge fans. "You scum-sucking maggot! How dare you turn against us in this way!" He climbed with ease. Engineer noticed that the tornado was getting closer. "I am going to beat you into the ground! And to think you were an American!"
Engineer gritted his teeth, frowning. He had no idea why the mercenary was so upset with him. But he could feel himself getting angry. All he had done for Scout, and this was how the team repaid him? But then again, he thought, it's not like the team ever appreciated him for what he's done. He remembered the toaster and washing machine incident clearly.
"Pyro, airblast him." He commanded.
"Whrrt?" Pyro held up their hands in shock. "Rr crrn't! Rrt's Srrdrr!" They protested. Pyro's flamethrower, which Pyro had brought earlier to blast away Scout's attempts at throwing leaves, was sitting between them.
"Just do it."
"Rr wrrn't!" Pyro shook their head.
"Tarnation!" Engineer raised his voice and seized the flamethrower. (Sniper, who had been watching from afar, gasped. No one other than the firebug themself touched the flamethrower.) He leaned out of the truck and blasted Soldier off, who fell while shouting.
"Nooooooooo!" Soldier cried out, before hitting the ground with an audible thump. The tornado approached. Engineer collapsed back in his seat, placing the weapon back down before looking at Pyro. Pyro stared. Engineer realized what he'd done.
"Soldier's in trouble!" Sniper called out on the channel. Demoman cursed; he had barely made it in time to see the fall. With his crate shield, he struggled to make it to Soldier's body.
"I've got you." He said as he pulled at Soldier's arm.
"No!" Soldier managed to croak out, struggling weakly. "Leave me!" It sounded like some air had been knocked out of his lungs. "You… you need to avenge me!"
Demoman felt a tear beginning to well up.
"I… Jane… I can't just leave you." He whispered. "You're my best *sniff* friend."
"Look. Tavish." Soldier coughed. "Look. It's the end for me. Y-you need to stop that traitor."
Demoman felt the lump in his throat. "Jane…" He barely whispered.
"Private, make me proud." Soldier managed a weak smile before going completely limp. A tear rolled down Demoman's face as he set Soldier down gently, who then proceeded to roll around the tornado and back into the base to safety.
"I will, Jane. I will." Demoman got up from where he stood, and looked towards the truck with renewed vigor. However, he didn't expect to see Pyro grappling with Engineer. Pyro looked furious, and Engineer looked both terrified and angry. With the tornado approaching, there was nowhere to go but forward. He started to climb up.
Heavy and Medic had finally made it behind Engineer. Thanks to Sniper, two of the outside fans and one of the truck fans were malfunctioning or entirely broker. However, the one fan facing them directly was still on and blasting winds at full speeds.
"Demo's reached the target." Sniper told them.
"I'll activate my charge, Heavy. Let's go." Medic said. A leaf flew into his mouth as he spoke, and he coughed. Then, charging in, he flipped the switch for the Quick-Fix. Suddenly the force of the winds faded away, and they ran, unencumbered. However, when they reached the truck, it exploded in front of them. That must be Sniper at work. Sharp pieces of debris flew at them, and Medic was grateful that Heavy had not ditched the crate shield. After all of the shards had flown past, Heavy lowered the shield. Demoman had just climbed up the huge energy block, and Pyro looked like they were shoving at Engineer inside the truck.
"I'll end you for what you did to Jane!" Demoman bellowed and ran to the truck.
"Demo, we're here." Medic said. Suddenly another explosion occurred on the side. Sniper took out yet another huge fan. There was only one left in the vicinity. But the tornado was still there looking pretty grim. It was only a little far from Demoman.
Engineer did a double take, (double the betrayal, so that was only the appropriate reaction), but was still preoccupied with a very angry pyrotechnician, and thus could do nothing about Demoman. However, the problem was solved when suddenly the Scotsman was pulled into the swirling vortex.
"DrrmrR!" Pyro cried out as Demoman was swept away.
"Noooooooo!" He reached out a hand to Pyro. In a second, he had vanished among the flying bits of debris and leaves. Pyro seized their flamethrower and jabbed Engineer with it to stop him from following and lept out of the truck.
"Pyro, nein!" Medic shouted, but to no avail, as Pyro did not have an earpiece at the moment. They stood in front of the tornado, and blasted out a puff of air. Somehow this was effective. Engineer, despite having eleven PhDs in all sorts of engineering and scientific fields, could not fathom the way the tornado was blown backwards a couple of feet. Another explosion occurred, and all of the fans surrounding the truck we're down.
"Medic. We go get Engineer." Heavy said, and Medic nodded. Pyro could keep the natural disaster busy while they climbed up and seized Engineer. With all of the nearby fans rendered useless, the tornado seemed to dissipate a little bit. There were still the massive ones on the outer perimeter blowing in opposite directions that continued to mix into a destructive force (that was currently being proven to be less destructive than Pyro). Heavy, despite looking to be a solid two to three hundred pound man, made it up the wall quickly. Medic watched in awe.
Sniper, from the fort, watched the whole thing unfold through his scope. He had just taken down a farther fan away, but he was fixed on Pyro who was literally using wind to blow back other wind. Suddenly he saw Engineer begin to get up, and he narrowed his eyes.
"Oh no you don't, Truckie." He muttered, and then somehow loaded a carrot (these were baby carrots, not the pointed ones) into his rifle. It was his non-lethal bullet. And Engineer hated vegetables. He set his rifle up and aimed. Engineer was approaching Pyro and his mouth was open, probably yelling something. Sniper exhaled, focusing on the Texan. Time slowed as he zeroed in on his target. Engineer's mouth flapped about in slow-motion, which looked actually really funny.
"Heh." Sniper chuckled, and then the smile fell from his face as he squeezed the trigger.