Forewords
I sure hope this doesn't get put on hiatus like Metal Slug: Mercenaries did. Updates on my other stories were very slow because I already have the entire plot of Fantasy Blitzkrieg planned.
Oh, and forgot to do this in the prologue...
Team Fortress 2 and related contents are property of Valve Software and Gabe Newell. Otherwise, I own everything else used in this work.
Chapter 1: Back To War
Time: Year 1941. Exact date unknown.
Location: Kuantan, Malaysia.
Shots were exchanged between British machine gun nests and Japanese riflemen in the middle of a jungle in the Malaysian state of Kuantan. For the local Malaysians whom have lived their past decade under Japanese oppression and tyranny, this is everyday life in World War 2. But for the British and Japanese soldiers, this specific gunfight is a race for valuable property that could turn the tides of the war.
In fact, this gunfight got so bad that the United States sent troops to support the British. The Allies cannot allow Imperial Japan to win this gunfight, but they themselves mustn't lose either.
"Give 'em hell, boys!" Soldier lead a squadron of American commandos into the frontlines. "The Rising Sun must not lay their hands on the Australium cache!" He continuously barked at his comrades.
Soldier's squad gunned down Japanese soldiers, and retook captured machine gun nests for their British allies wherever they passed.
Despite the odds being obviously not in their favor, the Japanese continued to march their forces through the jungles of Kuantan, showing no signs of retreat or demoralization.
"Their code of honor says that retreat is under every circumstances synonymous with shame and we're gonna change it so that not retreating is even more shameful!" Soldier shouted at his squad again.
It is then that Soldier noticed a particular commando from his squad rushing straight into the frontlines without proper planning.
Unlike with his other squad mates, Soldier almost have fear drawn on his face when he sees this commando charging right into danger. "Wait, Carla! Stop!"
The commando, who turns out to be a woman, stopped and turned toward Soldier.
Soldier closed in on the woman commando. "Carla! I told you to go to France and fight the Germans, but now you're in Malaysia fighting the Japanese!"
Carla's response was "The Nazis were a bunch of weaklings, and so were the Fascists. I wanted to fight with you, uncle!"
Mortars begins to strike the British troops and their American reinforcements, courtesy of the Japanese army.
"Imperial Japan is a whole different league than Nazi Germany, and Fascist Italy, and even the Soviet Union!" Soldier angrily replied to Carla. "The Germans, Italians and Russians at least know when to be afraid! For the Japanese, fear doesn't even exist in their dictionary!"
"But..." Carla attempted to contradict her uncle, but wasn't able to, because a Japanese mortar struck in between the woman commando and Soldier. The explosion threw them away from each other, and several feet off the muddy ground.
"CARRRRRLAAAAAA!" Soldier screamed at the sight in horror...
...
...And then he woke up in his bunk bed at Mann Co Mexico Facility, with his entire body covered in cold sweat.
Soldier took a deep breath, and reassured himself that everything he saw just now was all just a dream. The event has already happen, and he cannot change it no matter what.
Soldier scanned the room he's currently in. Around the room, the other RED Team mercenaries of Mann Co slept in their respective bunk beds. Of particular note is that Scout's snores sounded an awful lot like the word "Bonk", and Heavy was hugging his Minigun, Sasha, at the same time.
Seeing that his newest squad (if you can call several decades in service new) are okay, Soldier laid back down on his bunk bed. "Tomorrow will be a big day." He told himself before he started to snore.
Near the Soldier's bunk bed is an analog counter labeled "Years since the defeat of Gray Mann", with the analogs displaying the number "50".
...
Time: 0930 Hour; 26th of June, 2015.
Location: 2Fort.
It has been 50 years since the REDs and BLUs defeated Gray Mann and destroyed his Carrier Base for good...
The Reliable Excavation and Demolition team, or REDs as they were called, have been promoted to help Mann Co HQ settle disputes. Which means that they are now fighting other companies instead of their former rivals the BLUs.
In order to lighten their workload and bolster Mann Co's victory counts, the REDs has agreed to a truce with the Builder's League United, or BLUs.
This time, their mission is to end a massive copyrighting-fest, in which mega corporations from all over the world challenges Mann Co's economic authority by attacking them with plagiarized versions of the RED and BLU mercenaries. The international conflict started around the year 2001, and isn't showing any signs of stopping.
To make it worse, the REDs were getting too old, and their careers were threatened with retirement. To counteract this, Mann Co HQ has given advanced portable and battery-powered (not Australium-powered as Saxton Hale finally found a way around the diminishing Australium supply) versions of Redmond and Blutarch Mann's Life Extenders to keep them capable of frontline combat. The mercenaries were also given brand new weapons for the fight against the corporations' plagiarized teams, called Copycats.
Using their newfound strength, the REDs went on and put an end to all of the Copycats that challenged Mann Co. These Copycats' mother companies were bankrupted by their defeat, and had no choice but to oblige by their request, which states that the losing company shall be absorbed by the winning company.
Over the fourteen years that has elapsed, companies across the world were taken over by Mann Co as a result of losing the challenge, which got so out of hand that it became known as the Copycat Wars.
Mann Co is very confident of their current status on global economics, and their victory against the Copycats. But soon they will lose all their years of achievements and property in matters of minutes...
...
The RED team gathered in their Spawn Room in 2Fort, preparing for their 12345th battle against the Copycats (some companies cheated by sending multiple teams of Copycats at them, or sending the same team multiple times, or even using fake business licenses to avoid being absorbed into Mann CO).
"Attention, RED Team!" The voice of The Administrator emerged from megaphones, and echoed all over the 2Fort zone. "Your opponent this time is the GRN Team, who challenged us to a game of Capture The Point. Do not disappoint me..."
Before the real battle even starts, a GRN Scout decided to stand in front of the gate of the Respawn Room (RED Team was assigned either the role of offense or defense for the Copycat Wars) and continuously whack it with his aluminum Baseball Bat to annoy the RED Team. "Bonk! Bonk! Bonk!"
RED Pyro decides to take out the annoyance by walking up to the gate, and perform the Hadoken Taunt, blowing the GRN Scout into gibs.
"Yeah, that's right!" RED Scout taunted the dead GRN Scout verbally. "Annoying the opponent before a game starts is against the rules! You deserves to be blown up!"
"Mission begins in ten seconds!" The Administrator's voice flared through the megaphone, indicating that the match is about to start.
"Bring it!" RED Scout said with excitement.
"It iz good day to be giant man!" So did RED Heavy.
"Five, four, three, two, one..."
As soon as the countdown ends, the gate of the RED Spawn Room opened, and RED Pyro rushed ahead of his teammates, brandishing his Flare Gun like a maniac...
...Only to immediately take a headshot and drop dead.
"Enemy Sniper on their roof!" RED Sniper called out to the RED Team, as he tries to gun down the GRN Sniper directly across.
Both Snipers fired shots at each other, and the duel took a while until RED Sniper manages to gun down GRN Sniper with a body shot.
"Take that, wanker!" RED Sniper taunts his GRN counterpart who then falls off the roof of the GRN fort and directly over the entrance of the same building.
Immediately after the Sniper duel ends, a GRN Heavy appeared from the entrance of the GRN fort alongside a GRN Medic who announces "I am fully charged!". Said enemy proceeds to deploy his Ubercharge on said enemy Heavy.
"Doctor!" RED Heavy turned toward RED Medic as they both left the Spawn Room and comes face-to-face with the Ubercharged GRN Medic-Heavy combo. "You know what to do!"
"Jawohl!" RED Medic responds, and proceeds to deploy the Ubercharge on RED Heavy.
"I am bulletproof!" RED Heavy announces hammily. "Run, coward!" He taunts the GRN Heavy.
The GRN Heavy and GRN Medic did not retreat. Instead, they charged themselves toward the RED fort, with the GRN Heavy firing his Minigun at the same time.
RED Heavy and RED Medic does the exact same thing.
The two opposing sides clashed on for a while with the body count continuously piling up, and shots being fired endlessly...
...
Thirty minutes later...
"Victory!" The Administrator announced the moment the entire RED Team, standing on the Control Point while surrounded by a pile of GRN mercenary corpses, captures it. The announcement is followed by a series of applauding crowds.
"Good job, RED!" The voice of Saxton Hale replaced the Administrator's. "Thanks to your impressive efforts, Valve is now officially a part of Mann Co. Here, have an eagle."
"That's right! That fatman from Valve should've stayed in his office working on Episode Three instead of plagiarizing and challenging us!" RED Scout said.
"It went so fast that we don't even need BLU reinforcements! ...If you consider half an hour fast, that is..." RED Soldier adds in. "All of you deserves a medal... wait, scratch that. We don't have enough room for new medals."
"Mmph mmph!" RED Pyro congrats with a thumb-up, in unintelligible dialogue as per usual.
"Aw, they're going to need more glue to put themselves back together... IN HELL!" RED Demoman announces like a drunk... if he weren't drunk from drinking an entire bottle of scrumpy in one gulp already.
"Everyone is credit to team!" RED Heavy congratulates the entire team, and then the massive Russian proceeds to eat his Sandvich happily.
"Guess we got the victor's touch..." RED Engineer chimes in with his own quote.
"That's their own fault for standing still, mates!" RED Sniper comments on the victory.
"I never really was on their side..." RED Spy also comments.
RED Medic, however, chose to stay silent, having no idea on what to say.
The RED Team's cheering is eventually disturbed by the Administrator.
"Attention, everyone! Our next challenger has just arrived, and challenged us to a game of Deathmatch! Return to base and prepare yourselves!"
The RED mercenaries turned toward each other, and smiled. With that, they returned to their Spawn Room, waiting for the next game to begin.
...
Location: RED Spawn Room, 2Fort.
"Deathmatch!" RED Scout said excitedly. "Very few actually challenged us at that!"
"That's right!" RED Soldier crunched his neck at the same time. "We're the experts at Deathmatch! The last one to challenge us at it was from ten years ago!"
As the timer begins counting down, the RED Team is getting excited to hand their opponent their own butts in pieces.
But something caught the RED Spy's attention. "That is strange. We were on Offense this time, yet the enemies who were on Defense have not sent anyone to stand-by at our doorstep..."
RED Heavy gave the Frenchman an assuring pat on the shoulder. "Entire enemy team is baby cowards!"
"Attention, RED Team!" The Administrator interrupted with an announcement. "Your opponent this time is the NEW Team, who challenged us to a game of Deathmatch! Do not disappoint me..."
"NEW?" RED Engineer became suspicious with the name. "We haven't heard that kind of team name before..."
"Relax, this is the Copycat Wars." RED Soldier reassured his team. "Even if they have a completely original name, their team members are still plagiarized versions of us!"
RED Engineer let that sinks in for a while, then he replies. "Maybe you're right, partner..."
With nothing more to say, the RED mercenaries stood by in their Spawn Room, and prepared themselves for the game.
"Five, four, three, two, one..."
The gate opens as soon as the countdown ends, and the RED mercenaries except RED Sniper charged forward.
"Give 'em hell, boys!" RED Soldier barked at his team as he leads the charge into the center of the 2Fort zone...
...Only for the entire team to arrive there with not a single enemy mercenary in sight.
"Hey! Where's this supposed NEW Team?!" RED Scout was already impatient.
RED Sniper stood at his usual sniping spot, scanning the enemy fort with the scope of his Sniper Rifle for any signs of the enemies. "Not a single wanker in sight..."
Something moving in the shadows of the enemy fort corridors caught RED Sniper's attention.
"Eh? Thought I saw someone in black darting through there..."
...
"There you are...
...The so-called heroes of Mann Co...
...It is time that your workplace comes under my complete control.
Go, NEW Team!
Win this game in whichever method you prefer!
Afterwards, I will reward you nicely...
Hm hm hm hm...
Hm hm hm hm...
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
AND SOON WE SHALL HAVE THE WHOLE WORLD!"
Afterwords
The first paragraph wasn't made up. Well, most of it weren't. During World War 2, Imperial Japan invaded British-occupied Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries (actually, the entirety of East Asia), and massacred the Chinese population much like the Nazis did with Europe and Jews. Malaysia and The Philippines have already forgiven Japan, but it seems that South Korea still holds a grudge against them, whereas North Korea appears to be still trying to exact revenge...
However, there's something else you may have noticed in that flashback. See how it is described that the Japanese and British are competing for a cache of Australium, that has somehow ended up in Malaysia? It's going to be part of the story's conspiracies, and it will be explained later in the story.
Yep, this story will take place in the year 2015, approximately 50 years after the events of the games. As explained, the RED mercenaries are given Life Extenders so they can keep on fighting for Mann Co.
And yes, I know that GRN Team is a team of Freaks, and GRN is an acronym for something. I just can't remember what GRN stood for.
Shout-out index:
"...That fatman from Valve should've stayed in his office working on Episode Three..." - More like a Take That to Valve Software and Gabe(N) for not releasing Episode Three on time. This is even parodied in my other work - Fantasy Blitzkrieg - where Gabe Newell still hasn't released the game even a century later in the 22nd century (He also happens to be a robot in that story).
That is all. "Poot punchline here..."