Note: This chapter is gonna be pretty long, for anyone reading this.

The sun struggled to hold it's position in the sky as darkness was getting late in the evening, which also meant it was getting colder. Before any of the Mercs knew it, they were shivering slightly. Duncan was the first to notice.

" ' Ey, lads. It's gettin' pretty cold out here. Maybe we should go back inside?"

Woods looked at Duncan and nodded a little "Yeah… yeah, that's a good idea."

With that thought in mind, they went inside. All except Vitaly, Woods had noticed. Woods wasn't one to leave others by themselves, so he turned to the others and said:

"I think I'm gonna go back outside with Vitaly."

There didn't seem to be any objections, so Woods closed the door back outside. The wind picked up for a short while, blowing small chunks of Woods's hair into his eyes. He didn't mind, though. He had seen winds much heavier than this. He strolled through the grass to a the same crates Max had sat on just a few hours before. Vitaly was only a few feet from the crates.

Woods clambered awkwardly up to the top crate. He wasn't exactly flexible, and it was a big stack of crates. He tried to raise his foot to step on one, only to hit his knee - rather painfully- against a corner of a crate. He clenched his teeth a bit, but kept climbing. Then when he tried to hold onto a crate, he felt something pierce his hand. He stopped for a moment and felt around, then found the splinter and yanked it out.

After a bit more of a struggle, he managed to get up there, but once he did, he realized Vitaly was looking at him, rather amused. Woods all of a sudden shared the amusement and laughed a little.

"Sorry, I'm not very good when it comes to these kind of things."

"It is okay. I used to be a leetle klutz myself."

"Glad to know I'm not the only one."

"Why did you come out here. I thought you were cold."

"Nah, I was just going with it. I don't get cold very easily."

"That is one thing we have in common, then."

An almost awkward silence fell. Vitaly didn't have anything to talk about, so he took a closer look at Woods. Vitaly liked to know what his team was like, so he could point out any weaknesses, and then help make them strengths.

Woods had a slight build, which would be fixed with the training. His hair was longish, which would make him an easier target for grabbing, but the optical mask Pyro's wear would probably fix that. His clumsiness could be worked on, for sure, with some training as well.

The two sat and talked for a short while before something was heard. It was nearby, Woods could tell. In fact, it sounded as if it was right in front of him. That was when he felt something impact his chest and push backwards. Woods tumbled down from the crates painfully, then once he hit the ground, he felt something stab his bare forearm.

He let out a small yelp, more from surprise than pain. Then an arm wrapped around his neck and yanked upwards, putting an intense amount of pressure at his throat. After a moment or two , his own hands locked around the arm of whoever it was and he began trying to pull away. Then something was pressed against his temple. It was circular and cold, and felt as if it had a hole in the center. Woods knew immediately what it was. It only scared him more, making him more determined to escape from the stranger's grasp.

Woods jerked around for another moment before whoever it was pressed the gun harder against his temple, a click being heard about half a second later. A rather creepy Australian accent then threatened:

"If either of you yell for help, he dies!"

"You let leetle Pyro go NOW!" Vitaly yelled.

The Australian cackled evilly "I don't think so."

The man began to step backwards, taking Woods with him. Vitally took a few threatening steps towards them, without saying a word. Woods thought about how giant Vitaly was compared to him. Then he got an idea. This man he could tell was only a few inches taller than himself. That was good.

When the time was exactly right, and when the two had thrown some insults at each other, Woods jumped a few inches into the air and threw his head backwards, clocking the man behind him in the face. It caused him to release Woods, who ran forward a few steps before turning around just in time to see a Spy uncloak from his disguise.

Woods was a bit shocked at first, then he got a bit angry "Mason!"

Vitaly then stepped in "What's the matter with you!? You can't just do that to your own team!"

Mason looked at the two for a minute or two before speaking "I was testing him," he began "I do it to everyone on zhis team when zhey first arrive. I did it to you, I did it to Randall and Max. Everyone."

Vitaly then remembered when it had happened to him, then he suddenly felt embarrassed. Mason looked over to Woods "Good job jumping up and headbutting like zhat. It was a very good idea." Mason complimented. Afterwards he brought his hand to his nose, which was probably bleeding. "You clocked me in zhe face pretty hard, zhough."

"Sorry. If I had known that was you and not some other person, I wouldn't've done that."

"No no no no, it's okay."

"You sure?"

"Of course. You only acted as your instincts told you."

"Okay, if you say so."

"We should probably go back inside. It's getting colder out here, and we don't need any sick teammates. Especially in training tomorrow."

With that thought in mind, the trio went inside. By now it was 12:04 AM, and most had fallen asleep. Vitaly went straight to bed, as did Mason. Woods was thinking he should do the same. He was starting to feel pretty tired himself.

Once he got to the room, he sat on his bed and turned on a small lamp. Where his arm had been stabbed before, an oddly colored shard of glass was now implanted. He knew he shouldn't do anything with it until Kurt came.

After a minute of wondering how deep the glass stabbed into him, Kurt walked into the room. He looked EXTREMELY tired. The first thing he did was sit on his bed.

"So, uhh… How was your day?" Woods started

"Es ging in Ordnung, ich denke." Kurt said groggily.

"Hmm?" Woods asked. It took Kurt a minute to realize he had just spoken in his own language. He sat up a little straighter and opened his eyes all the way.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Um, it vas okay, I guess. How about your day?"

Woods shrugged and examined the glass again "It could've been better." he replied.

That was when Kurt noticed the glass in his friend's arm. A hint of worry began to creep into his expression.

"A-Are you alright? How did zhat happen?"

"It kinda hurts, but I'm okay. I fell off of some crates and landed on the glass. I think there must've been some kind of broken bottle or jar there. Probably one of Duncan's bottles of-"

Woods was interrupted by Kurt yanking the glass out of his arm, rather painfully.

"Owww!" he instinctively yelped while yanking away from his friends grasp. "Jerk…" he half scolded, and half laughed. Kurt took a closer look at the cut on Woods's arm.

"Vell , umm, you might need some stitches. But for now, keep it wrapped in these bandages," Kurt explained, handing a small roll of bandages to Woods, who wrapped them snugly around the cut.

After that, the two were much too tired to say anything else. They fought to stay awake for another minute or two before deciding it was best to go to sleep. Kurt fell asleep first, but Woods was too busy wondering how training would go the next morning. Hopefully, my clumsiness straightens out before tomorrow. he thought just before finally collapsing.