Saving Private Soldierbot Chapter 6: Hidden, a team fortress 2 fanfic

Author's Note: Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'm a frickin' idiot. Did I just hear someone say 'Yes we know'? Shame on you! Anyway, this time I'm an idiot because I made the dumbest mistake ever: I got the title of my own story wrong. I've corrected it now: the title should be 'Saving Private Soldierbot'. I get confused by those long complicated words, it seems. Sigh.

Nobody figured out why Jacques is called Jacques. He's named after Jacques Cousteau, the famous French underwater explorer. It had to be done.

Lots of responses to this story and it's now got over 1000 reads! Thanks everyone for reading, and a special thanks to my guest readers, whom I can't reply to directly. I do read and love all your reviews.

Now let's have some Scoutbot angst, yes?

Saving Private Soldierbot

Chapter Four: Hidden

Do I go? Don't I?

Scoutbot pulled a curled cable out of a drawer and plugged one end into the wall socket and the other into his neck, and then sat down for a quiet recharge in his room. He lay down on his bed, crossed his legs and picked up a random sports magazine, flicking through it. Hale's Ten Bodybuilding Tips. Fan-fucking-tastic. If I wanted six-pack abs I'd need a panel beater. He put it down and stared at the ceiling.

After the defeat of the robot army, Scoutbot had surprised the mercenaries by badgering Miss Pauling into giving him his own bedroom. The only one not surprised had been Engineer Dell, who had given an eager grin and set about designing the perfect stylish home for a robot, situated next to his own workshop for easy maintenance.

The room had a sheet-less bed coated with tough-wearing PVC. No wardrobe, of course; but there were plenty of cupboards and a few shelves for Scoutbot's possessions- not that he had had many at that time. The wall by the bed had a modified high-power socket for Scoutbot to recharge, but even though Scoutbot had begged Dell numerous times, there was no kerosene tank to refuel his jet engines. The Engineer had insisted that Scoutbot got that from his workshop only. With a gentle smile, he had pointed out that it meant he'd get to see Scoutbot for a chat now and again.

Now Scoutbot was wondering if it wasn't to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn't murder everyone. He was fairly sure it wasn't. Fairly sure. He gave an electronic sigh.

There is something waiting for you there. It has been waiting a long time.

What the hell did Jacques even mean? He'd been to TF Industries often- there was nothing there. It was boring. And going back to Violet Engie's workshop...

They said robots couldn't feel pain. They were wrong.

The Violet Engineer, the one all these other guys were the clones of, had been shot because of him. Hell, it hadn't been his fault, of course not, but... his creation had caused this whole mess. He sure as fuck didn't want to go back to Hardhat's old place. Damn it. Jacques knew him too well. He knew Scoutbot was too curious for his own good. The robot found himself looking up at the colourful conch shell perched on a shelf on the other side of the room. Jacques had given it to him a while back, and he knew that, scratched inside, was one word: 'Merci'. The octopus-man had never told him what he was saying thank you for, and refused to discuss it any further.

He was going to look, wasn't he? Scoutbot already knew he would end up going back to Violet Engineer's workshop.

Fuck it.

"Scoutbot? It's Katie." A quiet knock at the door. Scoutbot checked his internal chrono: 3am.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" He said, propping himself up on his elbows and trying not to sound too grumpy.

"Well, yes, but I was, er, busy. Can I come in?"

"You own this place, you can go wherever you like."

The door opened slowly and Miss Pauling came in, tucking a strand of loose hair back behind her ear and cleared her throat. "I came to say sorry for upsetting you. I shouldn't have said what I said. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"Huh. Didn't know robots had feelings." He sat up and crossed his legs on the bed, watching her.

"The ones we fought didn't." Miss Pauling admitted. "You ever been to basement storage and seen the ones that you shut down? They're not like you. They don't have minds. They just wanted to destroy and kill. It's easy to...fall back into thinking like that."

"About me?"

"About you." She moved and sat down next to him on the bed. "But that doesn't make it right. So, I apologise for treating you like...a machine. I was stupid and unthinking."

Scoutbot looked at her blankly. She gave a small hopeful smile. "Well, ok." He said finally. They sat silently for a second. "Screw it though, you were right. I mean, Bobby and Rick are my bros, right? They look out for me an' I should look out for them. I never really thought about the cold, not at all."

"You did save their lives." She pointed out. "What I was trying to point out earlier was that they were the ones endangering themselves, not you. Ok, ok, what the three of you did was stupid, but you can look after yourself. I've confined them to the base for a fortnight as punishment for being idiots."

"And my punishment?" He asked, his voice gaining a sharp edge.

"Not so much a punishment as an order." Miss Pauling said, her fingers fidgeting and moving. Scoutbot realised she didn't have her clipboard with her for once, and wondered if that meant anything. "Make sure you inform me or one of my copies if you leave the base."

"That all?"

She shrugged. "Pretty much." She yawned suddenly. "Uh, I better get off to bed. I have to phone NYPD early tomorrow and sort out bail."

"Bail?" Scoutbot asked curiously. She sighed exasperatedly.

"Gerhardt and Sergei got themselves arrested. Something about stealing dinosaur bones. Honestly, I feel like I run a kindergarten sometimes! Anyway, it's the usual drill: pay bail, burn documents, bribe officials, destroy evidence. Pyro is so handy to have around, isn't he?"

"Damn. Wish I'd gone with them." Scoutbot said. Miss Pauling gave him a steely glare. "Hey, what? I like causing trouble."

"Don't we all." She replied with a sudden amused smile that lit up her face. She grabbed him and gave him a hug, flesh against metal, and then looked down at her grease-stained arms with dismay. "Ew."

"Uh, sorry...if I don't stay oiled, I squeak. Night, Katie."

"Goodnight, Scoutbot." She gave a final nod and left, closing the door quietly.

Scoutbot lay back for a moment waiting for her footsteps to die away. Everyone'll be asleep now, right? And I am so not telling her where I'm going. He leapt up and headed towards to door determinedly before being yanked backwards by the neck and falling flat on his back.

Oh yeah, better unplug the charger first.

...Sound event recorded...

...Leaving Hibernation Mode...

...WARNING: Power Critical...

...WARNING: Failed to connect to network...Retrying...

...ERROR: Connection failed after four retries...

...Beep?

Scoutbot padded along the corridors of the TF Industries base as quietly as his metal feet would allow. The base was silent in a way no place with humans present could be. Motes of dust danced in the air, caught in the infra-red light of his night vision mode. He knew his way around here and he walked confidently past a meeting room...

...Where Engineer had introduced him to the rest of the Violet team, and they had rejected his idea to replace the clones with robots...

He stopped, squared his shoulders, and walked on. A corridor branched to his left. It led to one of the Administrator's old control rooms...

...Where a Spybot, a robot based on his own model, had killed the Administrator, and then had flicked switches and casually murdered base after base of mercenaries...

Scoutbot's feet sped up, and he refused to look around anymore. He wasn't scared. Nothing to be scared of. He was a badass robot. Nothing frightened him. Fuck it, this place was creepy. He took a right and then a left, and then finally opened the reinforced metal door that led to Engineer's old workshop...

...Where he had first woken up as a robot. The place where Dell had met Gray Mann and accepted his deadly offer...

He paused and squared his shoulders before pushing open the door and looking around cautiously. He realised that the workshop had changed quite a bit since he had last seen it. The neatly arranged tool racks were still there, but things had been moved about. A weird-looking x-ray hung on one wall, showing what looked like a human skeleton with a load of white threads running all around it. Notes in Engineer's precise handwriting and Medic's terrible scrawl were tacked all over the walls. A medicine bottle had fallen to the floor and scattered little white pills across the concrete.

Scoutbot looked about the silent room hesitantly. So, what's this amazing thing I'm supposed to see? There were some battered and scorched robots parts, and Scoutbot picked up a bullet-riddled metal leg, looked at it for a moment, and then threw it away. Fucking Spies. He got me, didn't he? Sent me on a wild goose chase. I bet he's laughing his goddamn slimy tentacles off. Son of a bitch!

He sat down in disappointment and looked at the cracked concrete floor. It was then he heard it. A muffled croaking voice, full of static:

"Oh say can you be...be...dawn's light...Oh say you can can can...proudly gleaming bombs...Oh say can you...beep..." It faded away.

"Dude?" Scoutbot looked about, trying to figure out where the voice had come from. He clenched his hands in excitement. A robot. Another robot! Did hardhat make another one? Was it a prototype? "Dude, where are ya? Keep talking!"

There was silence for a moment. Scoutbot jiggled his leg with impatience.

"...Beep?"

His head shot around to a metal cupboard fastened with a sturdy padlock. But that's too small. No robot could fit in there!

"Beep boop."

He looked around hastily for some bolt cutters and then determinedly snipped the padlock and ripped it off, wrenching the door open quickly.

"It's ok, buddy, I'm...holy shit!'

Scoutbot took a pace back involuntarily, placing a hand to his throat in horror. There, in the cupboard, connected to a car battery by a couple of crocodile clips, was a Soldier robot's head. Just the head. No body. The blue glow under the helmet flickered and wavered. What kind of sick fuck keeps a living robot's head locked in a cupboard?! With a horrible feeling of betrayal, he knew who had to have done this: Engineer Dell. His friend. The man he trusted. The man who had given him wings. Perhaps he could have expected this kind of thing from one of the nuttier mercs- Medic, creepy bastard that he was, wouldn't hesitate to do this kind of shit. Engineer though? Never.

"Hey, er, dude. Can you hear me?"

The Soldierbot's lights glowed more brightly for a moment. "I am a robot." He stated proudly.

"Yeah I know." Scoutbot replied, nonplussed.

"Halt! Friend or foe?"

"Uh, friend I guess."

"All hail the Maker!"

"Fuck the Maker." Scoutbot said firmly.

"Error: Command is beyond physical parameters of this unit. Beep."

"Crap. You're just one of those dumbass robots of Gray's." Scoutbot looked away, the disappointment so great it felt sharp and bitter in his processors. "This was a stupid idea. I don't know why I bothered."

"Error: Power Failure imminent."

"Good. Screw you and your goddamn Maker. You can all go to Hell." He turned away and started to walk slowly towards the door.

"Wait."

Scoutbot hesitated, fingers on the door handle.

"Don't... leave...m..."

Scoutbot's head snapped round and watched as the lights in the robot's head faded into darkness.

"Hey, dude?"

Scoutbot walked back over and flicked the head with a finger. It fell over with a clatter. Dead. Powerless.

"What a piece o' crap." He paused and then put it upright again and stared at it for a moment before swinging the metal cupboard shut.

He trudged away, shutting the door behind him, feeling worse than when he had arrived. He kicked a wall in frustration, leaving a dent in both the wall and his foot. He wanted nothing more than to fly away from...from...everything. Every. Fucking. Thing. Problem was, if he did that, where would he go? Just like the clones, he didn't belong anywhere except the Institute.

Well, there was one thing he could do, at least: Go and find out what the hell Engineer thought he was playing at.

He flexed his fists with a squeaking noise. Time to get some answers.

Chapter Five: Scoutbot goes to confront Engineer Dell, but will he just end up with more questions?