Chapter 5: A Shot in the Dark
Later that night, the Demoman Aonghus and the four Scouts made plans to leave the next morning for Watchtower, an area located in a deep ravine near the mountains, and the place where Gerald told Aonghus to take the Scouts to in case he was in trouble. However, as the five left the locker-room, they passed by a window where they saw a black van parked near the RED base. Concerned, Aonghus escorted the Scouts to the sleeping quarters located in a long hallway on the second floor, and then he told them what to do.
"But that's crazy!" said Steve, after Aonghus told them everything. "What if they spot us afterwards?"
"Then run like a mad dogs," Aonghus replied. "Get under the bridge, head for the sewers underneath the BLU base, and wait for me there. I just need to arrange our getaway van."
"How will that stop the Androids from following us?" asked Freddie.
Aonghus chuckled. "While they look human, they're still vulnerable to water."
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As the night wore on, all seemed quiet in the sleeping quarters, until four figures stepped into the hallway. The largest of the four, who was the same Heavy the Scouts ran into earlier, took out a large Minigun and fired several rounds on all the men sleeping. There were screams of agony and unseen blood being splattered, but the silence that followed afterwards was deafening. While the Android Heavy stood guard, the other three who resembled a Pyro, Sniper, and Spy checked on the bodies.
The four Scouts, who were sleeping behind a cluster of crates the whole time, immediately got up, put on their one-strapped backpacks, and ran as fast as they could to an adjacent door that led to a series of hallways. It didn't take long for the Androids to notice them, and so they left the dying corpses and followed. When they got to the front of the RED base, the four Scouts jumped into the water and swam towards the sewers. Meanwhile, the Androids' heavy footsteps could be heard as they crossed the bridge above the Scouts' heads.
Once they were inside the sewers, they stood ankle-deep in water, and waited. The minutes passed, and the footsteps seemed to falter, but the four Scouts couldn't relax. They knew that despite what Aonghus had promised, they were just sitting ducks. Their prediction seemed to come true when they heard several footsteps heading towards them, with one set of footsteps at the lead, and so they immediately took out their bats. But to their surprise, the leading footsteps turned out to belong to Aonghus, who was wielding an Eyelander sword.
"It looks like the Androids caught onto our plan sooner, so we'll have to make a run for it! The van is waiting near the back of the BLU base," Aonghus said hastily, and so the four Scouts followed him.
Just as they ran out of one sewer and into the other, the Androids came down the stairs that led to the sewers. The five swam out into the water and got up onto the surface where the BLU base was, and then they climbed over the chain-link fence that separated the base from the outside. Once they were over the fence, the five sprinted towards the back of the base where they found a green and white van waiting for them. As the Androids began to climb the fence as well, the five immediately got into the van and drove away.
For two straight days, they drove towards Watchtower, only to stop for bathroom breaks and sleep. The van had a large supply of food, but because the Scouts ate a lot, it wasn't long before the supplies dwindled. By the third day, Aonghus had to resort to hunting for deer in the nearby forests by setting up traps filled with bombs. He managed to catch one, and with some fresh water collected in a running stream, they set off again. But then on the fourth day, the van broke down because of a faulty engine, and so they had to travel on foot to Watchtower, which took slower due to the number of detours they had to make to avoid the roads so the black van nor the Androids could find them.
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Meanwhile, Gerald watched as Merasmus resurrected the mercenaries that had been buried at the cemetery near Mann Manor, or in the bowels of Hightower. He stripped them of their lingering souls, leaving mindless zombies in their place, and bound them to his will. Then he gave them special uniforms with a skull-shaped insignia on them, and ordered them to find the bodies of Redmond and Blutarch in order to give these zombie mercenaries their proper generals.
The idea of an undead army frightened Gerald, as they would be hard to kill in the war that was inevitably coming. But alas, without his Freedom Staff or Syringe Gun, Gerald was completely helpless. It also didn't help that he was suffering from malnutrition and dehydration after having spent a week up on the central tower. Then when he thought all hope was lost, a miracle occurred in the form of a white dove that flew down from the clouded skies and landed on Gerald's shoulder.
"Are you one of…Archimedes' children?" Gerald asked weakly.
The small bird cooed in response.
"Then tell him to…get here soon."
After the bird made a second cooing, he flew away before Merasmus floated onto the balcony of the tower below Gerald. A couple more days passed, then while Merasmus was busy communicating with the Monoculous of Gray Mann, who was currently controlling the Robots and the Androids via the Moving Fortress's main computer, Gerald was taken away from Hightower on the back of a dove that was the size of a biplane. Though his name was Archimedes, he was actually a mutated descendant of the similarly named dove that belonged to the original Medic, and was the leader of a group of other doves that were about the same size as him. By the time Merasmus noticed, Archimedes was a great distance from Hightower.
"So that is your answer, then?" Merasmus mused as he saw the vanishing white of the bird's feathers. "The next time we meet, Gerald, we will be enemies."
End of Chapter 5