The continuous clanging of the robotic soldiers came nearer, putting Sniper instantly on the alert. Would Spy disappear if they came too close? Where could they go? There was only the one exit in the workshop, as far as he knew. Sniper grabbed his rifle from where she was slung over his shoulder, silently, slowly. He brought her up to his shoulder and braced, waiting.
The door was closed, but there were a few dots of blood trailing from the destroyed barn to here. Would that be enough of a track for a machine to find them? It would have been enough for Sniper on the hunt for a foe, but the metal men walked right past the door and kept going.
Slowly, he released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, lowering his rifle. 'We should find somewhere safer,' he whispered, once he was sure the bots were gone.
Spy tensed when he heard the clank-clank-clank of mechanical feet nearby, fingers automatically reaching for his wrist. He felt cracked glass shift under his gloves and glanced down. It appeared his invisiwatch had been damaged in the explosion. Spy had no idea if it would still work. At least he still had his – Spy's fingers brushed against his chest, over the cotton of Sniper's red shirt. No, he didn't have his jacket anymore, that had been left behind in the last building. That meant no back-up watch, no knife, no disguise kit. No gun either. Spy still had its holster but he'd been holding his Ambassador when the explosion caught him. It was somewhere under all that rubble in the barn.
Had the Sniper done that on purpose? Stripped him of all his weapons, carried him away from them to leave him vulnerable? And now Spy was sitting here, propped up against the metal vice, maskless and half-shirtless. Was Sniper's act of kindness just that, an act?
And when Sniper said 'somewhere safer,' did he mean 'somewhere more secluded, somewhere where no one will hear you scream'?
Spy could believe that easily. But he didn't want to. He was so tired. He wanted to take a break from being pessimistic and paranoid all the time. It was a hard thing for a Spy to do though.
Spy licked his chapped lips and tasted copper. 'The building behind this has two storeys. Top one's a grain store. We should be safe in for a while. And you could snipe from up there easily while staying out of sight if you needed to.' Spy knew because he'd given the building a second glance earlier, instinctively looking out for the signs that the RED Sniper might be up there. He'd got a feel for the best sniping spots over the years.
'Can you walk?' Sniper asked, looking Spy over. He certainly looked better than earlier, but Sniper knew how weak a wound like that could leave a person, even after using a medikit.
Spy still looked thin and pale, almost feverish. He seemed too tired to even be terribly suspicious, which Sniper had to say he was relieved about. It was hard enough taking care of a man who had stabbed him in the back countless times, without him being skittish and fearful.
Spy frowned, giving it some thought. 'Possibly,' he replied. 'Give me a moment.'
He decided to do a small preliminary test. If he could manage to take his tattered shirt off by himself, then maybe he would be up for trying to walk. He forced himself to sit up properly and pulled off the Sniper's shirt easily. The movement left him feeling a tiny bit dizzy, but nothing compared to what it would have done a couple of minutes ago. It took him three attempts to undo the button that the Sniper had missed when cutting the shirt away from the wound. Spy's fingers kept fumbling over it, feeling weak and shaky. He managed in the end and peeled the shirt free. He dropped the ragged, bloody thing on the floor with contempt. Just the remains of yet another ruined suit. It was just a good thing that BLU always paid for the replacements, or it would have been very upsetting.
Both shirts off, Spy was immediately aware of how cold he was. For a moment he couldn't work out why. As usual they were practically fighting in a desert, so it was as hot out as ever. Then he remembered. Ah, yes, severe blood loss.
Spy shivered. Being underweight didn't help either. He dragged the RED shirt back on as quickly as he could, feeling oddly guilty about the fact that he didn't feel very guilty for doing so. If Soldier could see him now, Spy would be a dead man.
Right, first test passed. Now for the second. Spy pushed himself off the edge of the counter, and holding onto the vice for stability, experimentally tried out the whole 'standing up' thing. He swayed slightly, head spinning. This was ridiculous.
'Yes, I'm sure I can,' Spy answered in the end. His reply came out sounding a little short tempered and snappy, but it was himself he was irritated with, not the Sniper.
Sniper watched Spy undress for a moment, then turned his back on the other man to give him some semblance of privacy. It was difficult though; the spot between his shoulder blades itched with Spy behind him and he struggled to keep his eyes and ears focused on the battle going on not too far away, instead of on the injured man behind him.
Spy managed to get the remains of his shirt off and pull Sniper's class shirt back on. When Sniper heard Spy's shoes hit the floor he turned, taking his enemy's elbow carefully.
'We don't have to go far,' Sniper started to guide Spy out and around the side of the building to the grainery.
'Good,' Spy replied. He'd been aiming for flippant but it came out too flat and tired sounding for that. They'd barely made it out of the door before Spy began to flag. He had no choice but to lean against the Sniper. The contact made the back of his neck prickle. The last time they'd been in a similar position to this, Spy had ended up with a kukri sticking out of his chest. He'd died to the sound of the Sniper's low, husky laughter.
But now they were outside, Spy became more aware than ever that they were trapped on a battlefield. It was lean on Sniper, or collapse to the ground and wait for someone to find him. If it ended up being another RED, he doubted they'd be as merciful as the Sniper. And if it was one of the robots... well, better to lean on Sniper.
Not far. Not far to go.
Sniper felt Spy lean more and more on him as they went and he silently counted their steps until they were hidden away again. He got Spy inside and then had to push his shoulder hard into the door to get it to close. There was a ladder leading up to the second floor of the grainery and Sniper gave Spy a questioning look.
It didn't seem likely that Spy would let him carry him. It also didn't seem likely that Spy was going to be able to climb that.
At least the place was quiet, tucked a little ways away from the main battle, with a window up top. A lot of the wood was rotten and they'd have to be careful, but once they were up there they could pull the ladder up and be basically invisible to any enemies if they were still and quiet.
Well shit. He'd been expecting stairs. Proper stairs. Not a ladder.
For a moment, Spy considered doing a melodramatic, 'go on without me!' scene. Then the decided that actually, no, he'd rather not be left behind.
'Just let me... just let me get my breath back a moment. Just a moment,' he said. In reality it was more for fortifying himself for what he was about to do, than catching his breath.
'Should I go first?' he asked, thinking that maybe he should test the ladder out with his lighter weight before the Sniper tried climbing it. Though thinking about it, if something did give way, it would the Sniper, not him who'd be able to react quickly to it.
'Or maybe you should...' The Sniper might have to pull him up the last few rungs, after all.
'Just… don't struggle, alright?' Sniper bent and grabbed Spy so the man was bent over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, his long legs held firmly under one of Sniper's arms.
'What do you – ah!' Spy shut his eyes tight as the Sniper pulled him up and over his shoulders. He didn't dare open them again until the spinning sensation inside his head stopped. Spy muttered a long string of French insults, aimed both at the Sniper and at this new situation.
That was it. The Sniper was definitely only 'helping' him to try and make everything worse. What a day. What a day.
This would be the quickest and easiest way. Sniper didn't want Spy fainting on the way up the ladder. If he fell and made a large noise, they'd have people or machines here in a moment and Sniper didn't want to find out which they'd attract first.
With Spy over his shoulder he stepped up to the first rung of the ladder. It would be awkward, but he could definitely do it.
Spy instinctively grabbed for support as the Sniper stepped onto the ladder. One hand scrabbled against Sniper's belt, the other his hip. Definitely his hip. Spy let go immediately. Yes, he'd grabbed the enemy Sniper's hip. Definitely not his butt. Hopefully.
'Sorry,' he said, sounding rather sheepish.
This was it. Officially the most embarrassing day of Spy's life.
He spent the rest of the journey up the ladder silent, trying to ignore how ill the little jolts made him feel.
He knew they'd made it when the back of his head cracked against the edge of the trap door. 'Ouch!' Spy shut his mouth again immediately, worried that that might have been loud enough to attract the enemy.
'Sorry,' Sniper muttered, balancing carefully as he pushed the trapdoor open. He got his boots back on solid ground after thoroughly checking the wooden floor to make sure it hadn't rotted through. He set Spy down slowly, pretending he hadn't noticed Spy's apology or the rather intimate grabbing. Once he was sure Spy wasn't going to keel over, Sniper pulled up the ladder and closed the trapdoor.
The top of the grainery was fairly bare, mostly just wooden floors and dust, but there was a small window to look out of which Sniper had to admit was a perfect sniper perch.
'Be careful up here, some of the wood's rotted. Might be possible to fall through.'
'Huh, as if I'm going to be wandering around here any time soon,' Spy muttered, his eyes half closed. He was tired and would love to just be able to rest until this whole stupid battle had blown over. Or possible, the war.
Spy looked even paler now than he had before. Sniper was glad they'd both had some water before they'd come up here to hide. He wasn't sure how long Spy would need to recover.
Spy wondered if he could risk sleeping. He was tired enough to want to but it could be dangerous. After all, he was alone in a room with a man whose favourite hobby was probably shooting animals so he could make his own leather from their hides. Oh, and they were surrounded by murderous robots too.
He regretted that he hadn't kept hold of that bandana. Now the remaining blood was completely dry, Spy could feel how tacky and unpleasant it felt. Especially down his side. And it didn't help that his trousers were pretty blood-soaked.
Spy wondered if the Sniper would lend him his trousers too and chuckled quietly to himself at the thought.
Spy looked exhausted, his eyes were barely open. Sniper went to sit by the window, just out of sight of anyone outside. He let Spy find his own place to be comfortable, but he hoped the man would sleep. He seemed like he needed it. Pulling off his rifle, Sniper set her down next to himself, just in case their little hideout needed defending. It'd be safer not to call attention to them, but better safe than sorry.
Sniper pulled his hat down a little after a while and just listened to the goings on outside. Nothing was too close for comfort. Maybe he could rest.
Spy wanted to suggest that Sniper take the first watch, but looking at him, the RED seemed pretty exhausted too.
Spy missed their old, regularly scheduled battles. A full working day of murder every weekday, then weekends off. Rinse and repeat. It had been monotonous, but at least it had been reliable. These days they never knew when they'd be called up to defend Mann Co. It had been starting to hit BLU pretty hard, and it looked as though the REDs hadn't fared much better.
Really, if only they'd just been working together all this time, they could have organised things better. Shared the load instead of running themselves ragged, recklessly trying to kill off as many robots as possible, just get one up the other team.
'Five minutes,' Spy murmured. 'Just give me five minutes.'
He'd slept in dusty attics before. And in ditches and graveyards and under bridges.
No one on his team seemed to get that his obsession with fine suits, rare wines and expensive cigarettes wasn't because they were all part of the lifestyle he was used to. It was because they were luxuries that his younger-self had never even dared to dream of.
Spy's last thought before he drifted off was that he hoped the Sniper had pulled the ladder up. He didn't fancy finding out today if robots could climb.
Sniper wasn't too worried about keeping watch. He was a light sleeper. He watched Spy curl up and drift off quickly. It wasn't long before they were both asleep in the dusty grainery.