Tears started forming in my eyes. "This really is the end of us, isn't it?" Before I knew it, I was leaning against the back wall with my arm covering my eyes, trying not to cry.
I felt a hand touch my shoulder, causing me to look up. Niko was leaning against the wall, muttering an apology under his breath, his voice choking.
"I'm sorry… This is all my fault… I shouldn't have dragged you into this, Adrian…" He couldn't even look me in the eye.
I didn't know what to say. The two of us stood there in silence, waiting for BLU to kill us. As the BLU team closed in and the Medic fired his Syringe Gun at Niko, who screamed in pain. Before the Medic could make the final shot however, the wall started vibrating.
I yelped in surprise as the part of the wall that we were leaning against started crumbling. The wall suddenly collapsed, leaving a giant hole. As Niko and I fell backwards down the hole, I heard a German voice yelling and a muffled apology.
"Teufel noch mal! I vas so close! I told vou to tell the Soldier about zat fake vall!" BLU's Medic was yelling at BLU's Pyro who apologized, but it was hard to understand, due to the Pyro's gas mask.
As we fell through the hole, Niko grabbed onto me and held me close to his body. I closed my eyes and prepared for impact.
A loud thud echoed from the room Niko and I had landed in.
"Ugh… ow…" Niko sat up, and rubbed his head where it had made contact with the floor below us. He looked down at me, who was still clinging onto his body. "Adrian, say something?"
"Ngh…" I stirred and looked up into Niko's brown eyes. Funny, they seemed to be a lot closer than they usually were. It was then I noticed I had my arms wrapped around his torso. My face immediately turned red and I let go, sitting with my back to Niko so he couldn't see my face.
"I a-am s-so s-sorry!" I stuttered out, feeling my face grow hotter. Niko put his hand on my shoulder, causing me to jump.
"No, it's alright. I'm the one who had you grab on to me. I didn't want you to take the impact of the fall." He grimaced, and placed his free hand on his head. "I must have hit my head pretty badly though… I'm really dizzy…" He looked up at where we had fallen, "I guess we fell from up there… so… this must be the basement…?"
"The basement…?" I looked around. Torches were lit on walls; some sort of machine could be seen through the glass windows across from us. It suddenly dawned on me. "If this base is exactly like our base, then that means… This is where BLU keeps the intelligence!" I exclaimed, startling Niko.
"If this is the intel room, that means it connects to the sewers and we can escape from here!" Niko concluded, standing up quickly, which caused him to groan in pain and cough up blood.
"Hey, hey, take it easy. You're hurt…" I slowly stood up and put a hand to Niko's forehead, which caused him to blush. "Niko… you're not just hurt… you have a fever! A really bad one too!" I pulled my hand away as Niko wobbled to the opposite wall. I then noticed several syringes sticking out of Niko's body. Looks like they were tightly imbedded.
"I'll see a medic when we get back…" Niko wobbled forward and then fell to his knees. "Shit… I can't walk like this…"
I walked up to him and held out my hand, helping him up. "Here, put all your weight on me, I'll help you."
Niko nodded and leaned against my shoulder. The two of us slowly made it down the corridor when we crashed into someone.
"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT, I SWEAR IF YOU'RE A BLU, I'M GOING TO RIP OUT YOUR SPINE AND SHOVE IT DOWN YOUR THROAT SO FAR, IT'LL COME OUT OF YOUR ASS AND THEN TAKE PICTURES OF IT!"
We had crashed into a rather pissed off Aya Shameimaru.
I chuckled, "You really think you can do that when you have no weapons, Aya?" My black humor was going to be the death of me.
Aya looked up from her position on the floor, "Eeeh? What are you two doing here? I thought you two were dead! Unless you are dead, and I'm talking to ghosts. Ooh, how spooky! I can write about this in my next article!" She grabbed her camera hanging around her neck and snapped a picture of us.
The camera's flash blinded both me and Niko.
"AYA, WILL YOU STOP BEING STUPID AND LISTEN TO ME?!" I yelled at the Scout who stared up at me like a gaping fish. I quickly covered my mouth after yelling. The sound of my voice echoed off the basement walls. Far away was the sound of something exploding.
"That's the sound of a Soldier's rocket…" Niko raised his head from my shoulder. "We really should get out of here…"
Aya stood up and brushed herself off. "I was just about to suggest the same thing, but your girlfriend would have called me stupid!" She stuck her tongue out at me.
"What the fuck?" Niko and I both asked in unison, as we both looked at each other and looked away, blushing.
"W-we a-are n-not in a relationship!" I stuttered as Niko nodded so fast that he grew dizzy again.
"Uh huh, sure…" Aya walked over to Niko's left side. "I bet you're heavy. A weakling like Adrian couldn't support all your weight at once, huh?"
I gritted my teeth. The next time I encounter Aya on the battlefield, I'm sending her back to the respawn room.
With the help of Aya, we were able to make it to the sewers that connected RED's base to BLU's base, we then stopped to take a break.
"I never knew it would be this much work carrying someone…" I panted, wiping sweat off my forehead with my shirt sleeve.
"I'm sorry I'm useless right now…" Niko muttered, his head on my shoulder.
"Don't be. Let's just get out of here and seek medical attention." I soothed Niko as Aya rolled her eyes.
When we reached the water, Aya helped me put Niko on my back. We began wading into the water.
"Is it just me, or does the water level seem to be… higher?" Aya asked, looking down at the water rising to our thighs, soaking both my shorts and Aya's skirt.
"Yeah… it wasn't like this last time…" Niko muttered from his place on my back.
The water started to get deeper and I couldn't keep treading water with Niko on my back.
"Niko, can you try to swim the rest of the way? I can't stay afloat." I asked, as Niko groaned in pain.
"Yeah… I'll try…" Niko slid off my back and into the water. He blinked for a few seconds. "The water feels really good, but it stings my wounds."
Taking his hands, I helped the male Scout reach the end of the sewer. Niko's kicks were slow and choppy.
"Well, if anyone snuck up on us, Niko's kicks really could knock them out!" Aya giggled, swimming in front of us. God, I really wanted to hit her.
Splashing in the lake under 2Fort's bridge, the three of us made our way towards a cliff where we could pull ourselves out of the water. Aya climbed up first to make sure the coast was clear and then helped me up. After I was on land, we helped Niko up. The poor boy was shivering, his clothes sopping wet and his face was really pale.
"We really have to hurry, I really don't think Niko's doing well…" I mentioned to Aya, who looked at Niko with concern and nodded.
Aya and I held Niko up as we walked towards our base. Suddenly a blue laser shined onto my shirt.
"Get down!" Niko let go of both Aya and me and jumped at me. The two of us collided and rolled under the rafters of RED's base.
"H-have you lost your mind?!" I yelled as I felt Niko's weight on me.
Aya skidded to a halt next to us, still lying on the ground. "You do realize Niko saved your life, right? That was a Sniper bullet. BLU's trying to snipe us down." She pointed to BLU's base then turned to us and blinked with amazement then pulling out her camera and snapping a couple pictures.
Niko and I were immobilized on the ground. I was trapped under Niko's weight; he had collapsed from his fever. I looked up at Niko, who stared back at me, he lowered his lips to mine…
"MEDICCCCC!" Aya yelled at the top of her lungs, causing Niko to spring off me, blushing madly, both from his fever and how close we were.
I got to my feet at the same time as our Medics burst out of our base and surrounded the three of us.
"Thank god… Medics…" Niko mumbled before passing out.