"Mission begins in sixty seconds."

The Announcer's cool voice filled the courtyard. The battle was beginning, and the team was moving to the various positions they had discussed night before. The courtyard chokepoint was being held by a tag team of the Pyro and the Engineer, one of the more capable duos on the team. The Engi's massive sentries gave the Pyro extra firepower she didn't have on her own, while she efficiently revealed and disposed of his worst nemesis: The enemy Spy.

The Engineer made a last few finishing touches to his sentry, before giving a final tighten to the bolts on the side. "Ready, little lady?"

She grinned back wickedly. "I'll assume you're talking to me, not the gun. And to answer your question: Yup."

He laughed, before tossing her gasmask towards her. She pulled it on, and hoisted her flamethrower up.

"Mission begins in five."

"Four."

"Three."

"Two."

"ONE!"

A siren wailed through the base. Soon the echoing boom of two opposing Sniper rifles could be heard in the air, followed by the taunting yells of the two Scouts. The courtyard was quiet for now, but both knew it wouldn't be long until-

RATATATATATATAT!

The Engineer's sentry spat out a rapid volley of bullets at a Scout who had whirred around the corner. Quick as he had appeared, he was gone again, but the small trail of blood leading from the courtyard showed that he hadn't escaped unscathed. Engi snapped his fingers, grabbing the Pyro's attention. He pointed down the long hallway opposite his sentry.

"Flush him out." He murmured quietly. She flashed him a quick thumbs up before heading down the hall.

There were a few moments of silence before a loud scream followed by a sickening thunk, and then a very flammable Scout came flying out of the hallway. The sentry zeroed in, made a pleased boop, and then let its rockets fly.

The Engineer chuckled when small piece of the Scout landed next to him. "Quick as a hiccup, ain't ya?" The smile was promptly wiped from his face. "Huh. Not quick enough."

He tensed for a moment as he saw another figure emerge from the hallway, but relaxed when he saw the Pyro. As she got closer, he noticed a pronounced limp in her step.

"Hell, what happened to you?"

She leaned against the wall in obvious discomfort. "Mmph mmpph mph mph."

He stared at her. "Beg pardon?"

She wheezed once, before pulling off her gasmask. "I said, the little bastard got me. He was all lit up like a Christmas tree but somehow managed to take out my leg with that piece of shit baseball bat. You got a dispenser set up?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Give me a second lil' lady, I'll get one up right quick."

She sat down heavily on the stairs. "Try to be fast," she winced, "I think he broke my femur."

The Engineer set to work, initiating a toolbox into autobuild mode while helping it along with a few tweaks from his wrench. A few more BLU members showed up, but none were as quick as the Scout and were swiftly shot down by the sentry.

Unexpectedly, the Sniper ran out of the long hallway, freezing when he saw the Engie and Pyro staring back at him.

"What are you doing here?" she said, raising her eyebrows. "Thought you were going to stay on the battlements the whole time."

He stared back at her, blinking. "Oh right…I…needed supplies. Ran out of ammo, y'know."

She narrowed her eyes at him before tightening her grip around the axe that was out of his sight. "Is that so?"

He gave a bark of laughter. "Blimey, Sheila, what's it to ya? Headin' back up there now, no harm done."

He attempted to jog by her up the stairs, but lurched to a halt when her hand shot up and grabbed his shirt. "Is…that…so?" she snarled, before giving a massive heave and yanking him down to the ground.

The Engie jumped to his feet. "Hey, little lady, what the tarnation do you think you're doing? Sniper's got a job to do, now quit foolin' around?"

Pyro was on her feet now, albeit somewhat unsteadily as the dispenser was not quite fully erected. This didn't stop her from pinning the Sniper against the wall.

"I'd love to stop fooling around," she hissed, staring straight into his eyes. "But there's a problem. You're not a Sniper, are you….monsieur?"

Suddenly, several things happened very quickly. Pyro was thrown backwards and hit the ground on her back. The 'Sniper' swooshed into invisibility, and a large electrical sapper appeared on the Engineer's sentry gun.

"SPAH!" bellowed the Engi, smashing the sapper full force with his wrench. "THERE'S A SPAH 'ROUND HERE!"

The Pyro staggered to her feet, grabbing her flamethrower and letting it loose on the courtyard. It revealed nothing, only lighting up a small dry brush in the corner. She growled, and slung the flamer over her back. Pulling out her axe, she joined the Engineer in his attempts to beat off the sapper. It fell off after a few more hits, but the sentry was heavily damaged. It would take some time to repair.

Grabbing her gasmask from where she had left it on the stair, she flung it across the courtyard in anger. She tried to do this on one foot, and promptly lost her balance and fell on the ground.

"COME BACK HERE, ASSHOLE!" she screamed. "YOU STUPID PIECE OF SCUM! I'LL ROAST YOU ALIVE, Y'HEAR! YOU DUMB FUCKING BASTARD!"

The Engineer sighed, and walked over to her. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her to her feet.

"Look, he didn't touch the dispenser. Go sit over there and heal of that leg ah yours, and let's just regroup. He won't be able to hide from us if he gets the intel, so let's just wait it out, mmm?"

She nodded resignedly, and looked back at him.

"Hey Engi?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Can you grab my gasmask for me?" She pointed to the far end of the courtyard, where the mask had struck the opposite wall. "I, uh…misplaced it. Accidentally. Purely an accident. Whoops."

He rolled his eyes, but retrieved it anyway. Tossing it to her, he grinned.

"You're gonna light that cowardly S.O.B. right up, ain't you?"

She grinned right back, before pulling the mask over her face.

"Mmmph."