Well, it happened again. I posted another chapter. Maybe it's because I'm still on Christmas vacation... yeah, that's it. That's why I'm updating so consistently. Things will probably be different when I go back to school. So just a heads-up, updates might start slowing down next week.

After some thinking, I'm probably going to change the genre of the story a bit, if it matters a whole lot. I don't really know why, but I'm just not sure if it's dramatic enough. So... yeah. It won't be too big of a difference.

As for the chapter, here's an attempt at an action scene. Hopefully it's not boring and actually makes sense.

Enjoy!


Badlands, New Mexico. October 1969. Current Location: Dustbowl-Stage 1

ALERT! OUR CONTROL POINT IS BEING CAPTURED!

Wailing sirens and gunshots could be heard all over that morning as the sun rose over Dustbowl. A lone BLU Pyro stood on the point, dodging the bullets and rockets fired at him.

"C'mon! Are you maggots really going to let those BLU's take the point?" The RED Soldier shouted from the canyon. "The match just started!" Pointing his rocket launcher toward the ground, he fired a rocket from beneath his feet, sending him flying. He fired another rocket into the building, knocking the BLU Pyro away from the point and blocking its capture.

"Stay away from my point, you mute cretin!" He was about to finish the Pyro when a red blur zoomed by, whacking the Pyro in the back of the head with a baseball bat. The Pyro collapsed on the ground, blood seeping from the mask.

"Oh yeah! 'Dats what I'm talking about!" The RED Scout bragged, looking down on the Pyro's dead body. "You shoulda said something if ya didn't want me to kill ya!"

"Scout! Quit being a show-off and get out of the way!" Soldier called to him.

"Wha-?" He turned to see a BLU Soldier firing a rocket at him. "Gah!" Scout jumped out of the way and started firing off his pistol as he sprinted back to the point. A BLU Demoman and Medic were making another attempt to capture it.

"Yo! Someone help me defend the point!" Scout fired his scattergun at the two BLUs, chipping away their health, though it wasn't enough as he was still outnumbered two to one. The Demoman launched two grenades but thanks to Scout's quick feet, he dodged them both with ease.

"Ha! You're gonna have to do better than dat!" Scout taunted.

"Oh I WILL, twinkle-toes." The Demoman fired another grenade, which the Scout dodged again, but now he was so pre-occupied that he didn't notice the BLU Soldier launching another rocket at him.

Scout was just about to be blown into bits, when the RED team's own Pyro airblasted the rocket, reflecting it back at the Soldier and blasting him into bits. The Pyro then proceeded to set the BLU Demoman and Medic on fire.

"Screaming Eagles!" The RED Soldier yelled as he hit the BLU Medic in the head, finishing him off. The Demoman was left with no choice to retreat, while he was still on fire, leaving him open to a shot in the back from the Pyro.

"Thanks, Pyro." The Scout slapped him on the back. "If it weren't for ya, I'd probably be bits and pieces on the ground right now."

"Hmmhm-Mmph!" was what they Pyro could only reply.

"Scout!" The Soldier shouted, marching straight up to him. "That's the second time you almost got killed! You've got to pay attention!"

Scout just rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah… quit being so demanding. It ain't exactly easy when we don't have Spy."

With the RED Team being down a member, this particular mission was all the more difficult now that they were outnumbered. The Spy should have returned along with their newly recruited teammate in time for their mission, but for unknown reasons something had held him up. So now instead of having the upper hand, the REDs were at a disadvantage.

The Scout, Soldier, and Pyro continued to fight off as many BLUs as possible until another reinforcement came.

Just as they hoped, the RED Demoman arrived; firing red stickybombs around the entrance to the first control point. "They'll never see it comin'." he muttered, then took a swig from his bottle of scrumpy. As a number of BLUs made their way to the control point, preparing to shoot down the seemingly unaware Demoman, the Demoman's one eye stared straight at the Heavy. Unintimidated, they charged straight in before Demoman detonated the bombs, sending pieces of the BLUs everywhere.

Cackling, the Demoman knelt down at the head of a BLU Heavy. "It's goin' ta take a lotta glue ta put you back together." As he reloaded his stickybomb launcher, he shouted to the other 3 REDs who were guarding the canyon. "Scout! Soldier! Guard the left entrance ta the tunnels! Don't let any of em' through! Pyro and I will guard the point."

"Got it!"

"Yessir!" The Soldier gave a mini-salute.

Demoman flashed an evil smile, his eye patch making the look even more threatening as he started to laugh.

The RED Pyro tilted his head. "Huh?"

•●•

Despite the REDs' best attempts at defense, a BLU Scout managed to make his way through the mining tunnel as he sprinted to the second control point. The BLUs hadn't captured the first one yet, but once they did the BLU Scout would be ready to quickly cap the next one.

As he made his way up some creaky stairs, he heard a giant foot stomp behind him. Turning around, the BLU Scout was met face-to-face with the RED Heavy Weapons Guy, holding his minigun.

"Run home to mama before I kill you, coward!" The Heavy bellowed. "You are no match for me!"

The Scout brought out his baseball bat and charged straight for the Heavy. Before he had time to even think, the Scout hit the Heavy's hand with his bat, causing him to drop his minigun down the flight of stairs.

"Nooo! Sasha!" Heavy wailed in agony for his minigun before turning to glare at the man that caused this atrocity.

"Ha! Not so tough without your precious 'Sasha,' are ya, lardfat?" the Scout laughed.

"You will pay for that, leetle man!" The Heavy drove his fist into the Scout, knocking him against the wall.

Picking up "Sasha," the Heavy pointed the minigun at the Scout, who was now trapped in a corner. "You have nowhere to hide."

The BLU Scout gritted his teeth, his back against the wall.

Heavy revved up his minigun and let out a battle cry.

"EEEYAAAAAAH!"

•●•

The second control point didn't appear to be well guarded, as the area seemed abandoned. The only thing that could be heard was the beeping of a lone sentry gun. Next to the sentry gun was the RED Engineer, sitting in a lawn chair as he waited for the BLUs to make an attempt to capture the next point.

ATTENTION! FIVE MINUTES LEFT IN THE MISSION!

"Dang, even without Spy, we're holdin' up pretty well." Engineer said to himself.

The RED Medic ran past him before stopping and turning to the tunnels.

"Somethin' the matter, Doc?" the Engineer asked him.

"Shhhh!" The Medic brought his finger to his mouth. "Do you hear zat? Zat… beeping noise?" He pointed to the tunnel entrance.

"You mean mah sentry gun?"

"No, not zat! Zis is… different." Medic whispered, for no particular reason since they were the only two around the area.

The Engineer listened closely for anything out of the ordinary. The only things he could hear were the whirring of his machines, and the only beeping noise he could hear was his sentry gun. He shrugged. "Nope! Don't hear anythin' strange."

The Medic put his hand behind his ear. From the tunnels, he could hear the faint echo of the Heavy yelling, "MEE-DIIIC!"

He gasped. "Ach! It's ze Heavy! He's been hurt! Ve can't lose him now!" Medic brought out his medi-gun and ran in the tunnels. Just about everybody except for Engineer was getting in the action while he was forced to stay behind and guard the second control point. So far, no BLUs had made any attempt to attack him or cap the point, although they wouldn't be able to before they captured the first control point. Even if they tried, the Engineer's sentry gun would shoot them down before they could make their way to the point.

He slumped back into his chair. A minute or two passed.

DING!

THE ENEMY HAS RECEIVED ADDITIONAL TIME!

The BLUs has managed to capture the first control point. Standing up, the Engineer kicked his chair away and brought out his shotgun. Things were going to get interesting.

•●•

Meanwhile in the tunnels, the Medic looked around, avoiding a BLU or two as he found the RED Heavy sprawled on the ground with a small puddle of blood. There was a giant red gash on his side. Fortunately the Heavy's chest was heaving, so he was still alive.

"Not much… time left… Doctor…" The Heavy gasped.

The Medic flipped his medi-gun on and pointed it at the Heavy. A red beam flowed into him, his wound closing as the Heavy slowly stood up. He sighed in relief. "Thank you, Doctor."

"Vat happened to you?" Medic asked.

"I was killing Scout… when a Spy came from behind me. He got my side and I fell." The Heavy patted his now-healed wound.

"A Spy?!" The Medic started looking around nervously. "Is he still around?"

Heavy shook his head. "No, he left when he saw me fall. He thought I was dead. Anyway," he picked up his minigun. "It's team time, Doctor! Follow me!" Heavy shouted, returning to his usual loud self.

Medic nodded. "Jawohl. We've got a point to defend."

•●•

Back at the second point, the Engineer watched as several BLUs tried to take the control point, only to get shot down by his sentry. The Engineer just shook his head at the BLUs.

Suddenly, his sentry gun started to malfunction. A sapper was placed on top of it as abnormal sparks were flying out of the sentry gun. "Wha-? A Spy!" he gasped in surprise. The Engineer knelt down to repair his machine, frantically hitting his wrench against the sapper in order to knock it off. If he couldn't get this thing fixed in time, it could cost the RED team the mission.

Fortunately the REDs guarding the first control point arrived in time to defend the second. The Soldier bounded through the air with his skilled rocket jumps as the Pyro set several BLUs ablaze, leaving some for Scout to pick off. Near the control point, the Demoman set up a new stickybomb trap then launched some grenades at the BLU team.

Finally, the RED Engineer knocked the sapper off his sentry. As he was repairing the damage, a BLU Spy appeared out of nowhere behind the Engineer. Raising his knife, the Spy prepared to backstab Engineer while he was completely oblivious to the attack. Before he could plunge the knife into the mechanic's body, he turned around to see the Spy, with knife in hand. The Engineer grabbed his wrench as he was about to hit the Spy.

BANG!

Blood oozed from the BLU Spy's head as he collapsed on the ground, dead.

"What in the-?" Engineer muttered as he tried to scratch his head under his hardhat. Looking around, he found the Sniper on the roof of the RED spawn point, waving at him.

The Engineer waved back. "Thanks, Sniper! Nice Shot!" I've got to pay more attention… he thought to himself.

He looked through the scope of his rifle and fired another headshot at an enemy Soldier, while mid-air from a rocket jump. A BLU Sniper tried to take aim at the Engineer, but the Australian noticed and sniped the enemy first before they got time to shoot.

"Hmph… Next time Truckie, pay better attention." The RED Sniper muttered.

As the RED Scout ran around, shooting down any BLU too slow to see him with his scattergun, he noticed a Heavy and Medic combo making their way through the tunnels when he heard the Medic declare, "I am fully charged!"

Scout looked around. The RED Heavy and Medic were on a roof, mowing down a couple of BLUs. If they weren't in the mining shafts…

"Uh-oh. This ain't good." He said with a hint of panic in his voice. He dashed back to the control point. "Guys! They've gotta charge ready!"

The Soldier pumped his shotgun. "Get ready, boys!"

They fired some shots until a BLU Medic healing a Heavy emerged from the mining tunnels. Any shot fired at the Heavy was quickly healed off and no one, not even Sniper, could get a clear shot of the Medic. In these cases, the RED Spy would easily pick off the Medic.

Sniper got down from his regular perch. "Bloody hell! The Spy's not doing his job!" he griped, trying to snipe the enemy Medic.

"Dummkopf!" The RED Medic yelled. "Did you forget already? Ze Spy isn't here!"

Shuffling around from drinking too much, the Demoman looked confused. "Wh-what? Spy's not here? Well where'd he go?" he said, forgetting that the Spy wasn't with them this mission.

"Ugh!" The Medic pressed his hand to his head in frustration.

The BLU Heavy and Medic got closer to the point, the Heavy firing his minigun at everyone. The REDs started dropping like flies. They didn't even need the übercharge to take the point.

Still standing, the RED Heavy along with the Medic stood in between the point and their BLU counterparts. But before Heavy could take down the enemy Medic, he activated his übercharge and soon after they fell too.

As the RED Team respawned, they could hear the BLUs capturing the point and the Administrator shouting YOU FAILED! as an audience booed at them through the intercom.

They had lost.

•●•

That afternoon at the RED base, the 8 mercenaries sat around, brooding over their recent loss. Even though they were outnumbered, they had still managed to put up a fight with the BLU Team. But it didn't change the fact that they failed the mission.

"Well men, we failed." The Soldier grumbled. "I take full responsibility."

"Whaddaya talking about?" Scout retorted. "It wasn't your fault at all!"

The Pyro muttered something muffled from his mask that the team couldn't understand.

"If the Spy were here… things woulda' been different." Engineer said.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

From behind them, a man cleared his throat. "Gentlemen?" Turning around, the team stared in shock as they saw the RED Spy stand before them.

The Sniper stepped forward, scowling. "Where were ya,' you bloody spook? You're absence cost us the mission!"

Unsurprised by the Sniper's outburst, the Spy just shrugged and shook his head. "Yes, I know I was supposed to be back by the time the mission started. For that, I apologize. But there were some… complications… with recruiting our new team member."

"New… team member?" The Heavy said, looking toward the Spy.

The mention of a new teammate shook everyone out of their depressed state of mind.

"Well, did ya get one?" The Scout asked.

"I did… but then he got shot in the chest and was sent to the hospital. He is unable to join us."

"Oh…" the Demoman quietly uttered. Everyone's head dropped.

Spy held his hands up. "Now, I didn't say I didn't bring back another team member, I only meant that one specific person. For I indeed managed to recruit a new member to the team."

The REDs stood up. "Well, where is this 'new team member?'" Soldier asked.

"They're waiting outside." The Spy gestured to the overhead door. "Would you like to meet our newest recruit?"

"Yes!" They all shouted with enthusiasm.

The Spy pressed a button on the wall and the door started to move. The RED Team watched in anticipation as the door slowly revealed the figure of their teammate. They didn't really know what to expect. Would he be strong? Would he be fast? Would he be any good?

When the overhead door stopped, the RED team's eyes widened. A short, petite, young woman stepped forward. She was dressed in a red shirt underneath a maroon breastplate that appeared to be leather and dark colored trousers with black combat boots. She wore a thick black sash tied around her waist and a thinner one draped from her shoulder that carried some sort of darts. Around her wrists were strange straps that were holding more darts. Her long dark hair was tied in a ponytail.

They couldn't believe it. Their new teammate wasn't a he, but a she.

She smirked at them. "Greetings, equipo. It seems you are in need of my help."


How will the RED Team react to their new recruit? Find out in Chapter 4! Coming to a computer near you... sometime... when I work on the Chapter... and when I have a class name for her set in stone... Hmmm...

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