Hey everybody! It's time for the...second to last arrival chapter. Yeah, I know seems like this would be the last one, but there's going to be one more person we're going to see arriving.

With regards to the Spy's comments about the "hip-e" movement and Buddhist monks, keep in mind that he's from the TF2 universe, where Australia is full of moustachioed men and women, New Zealand's the equivalent of Atlantis, and Nicola Tesla, Fu Manchu, and a whole bunch of others were part of the 1800's RED and BLU teams. I assumed their world's history would be pretty different from ours.

EDIT: Game2002 pointed out (correctly) that Shou doesn't actually have tiger ears, at least in official art. My response to that was initially along the lines of "Curse you, need for accuracy with source material!" but I realized that I've actually departed from canon with regards to things like that before (like with the rabbit ears+human ears in the Medic's chapter), so I calmed down a bit. However, it has led me to the decision that (at least in the Gensokyou of the story I'm writing) Shou's tiger ears show up as sort of a symptom of her anger. Essentially, the more angry (and less in control) she becomes, the more tiger-like her appearance becomes, such as ears/whiskers showing up. Hopefully that works for you all as well (it also prevents me from having to rewrite that section, which is only a happy coincidence from this newly created bit of story canon, I assure you). But thanks for pointing that out Game2002!

As always, thanks so much for reading!

The Spy woke up in a bed. Since he didn't know whose bed it was, and the last thing he remembered was being taken through the strange portal Merasmus had created, he decided to remain silent and pretend to be asleep. A spy's greatest asset is his ability to gather information, after all, and people tend to let their guard down around people they believe to be asleep. The Spy himself knew better, of course, but he doubted his captors (they had to be captors, he reasoned, because they had taken him against his will even if, admittedly, he couldn't really have voiced his will while unconscious). Calming his mind, he focused on letting his senses take in all the information they could. The sheets felt heavy, but also soft. They were probably expertly made, meaning whoever had captured him was either an excellent seamstress, or could afford to hire one. In contrast to that, he could barely feel a mattress beneath himself, instead feeling only a straw mat. That seemed to indicate the former of the two options presented by the blanket. Inhaling deeply, he caught the scent of incense burning. That probably meant he was either in a place of religious worship or, and he shuddered to think it, he'd been captured by some new-agers (The new-agers were, as far as the Spy could figure out, a group of people who were following in the footsteps of the "hip-e" movement from the early 1920's, who had decided in the aftermath of the first world war that recreational drugs and flowers were much better time than reliving the traumatic memories they had, and as such went around smoking garden weeds and throwing flowers at people. How exactly the new-agers had turned this behavior into burning incense and talking at length about the lovely healing properties of certain stones escaped him, but they always claimed the "hip-es" as an inspiration, so he took their word for it.) Luckily, the sounds of people rushing back and forth and constant jovial yelling convinced him that it was almost certainly the religious institution, as new-agers rarely had that kind of energy. From this, he concluded that his captors wanted him to believe that he was in some sort of temple for a religion that favored frugality, so he guessed Buddhism, considering his last known location. Of course, since that's what they wanted him to believe, he concluded that he was in a secret facility designed to gather information from people like him by making them feel relatively at ease, so they'd let down their guard. Childs play, really.

As he came to that conclusion, he heard the sound of two sets of footsteps approaching, speaking to each other amiably. A door opened and he felt some cool air rush in.

"Hello Byakuren-sama," one voice said, sounding cheerful. There was a clatter. "I brought you some food, and a bit for him in case he'd woken up, but I guess he hasn't…"

"Oh that's fine," said a voice to his side. He cursed himself silently for not realizing there was someone in the room with him. He wondered how he could have missed her breathing. "He seems to still be unconscious, poor man."

"Well, he did fall from the sky right into the training grounds," said a third voice coming from near the first one. "I wouldn't be surprised if he was out for days, fall like that. Hell, I'm surprised he wasn't dead on impact."

"Minamitsu!" the voice that the spy assumed was Byakuren said, admonishingly.

"I know, I know. Sorry for my language and negativity Byakuren, but I've seen people fall from lesser heights into water and die before. It's just surprising s'all," the third voice, which now seemed to belong to this "Minamitsu," replied.

The Spy silently thanked his training for keeping him alive.

"That's true," said the first voice. "Very lucky for him he survived. Still I wonder where he came from. He definitely looks…odd, don't you think?" The Spy suppressed a frown. He wasn't sure he liked this woman. "I mean, wearing a fancy suit like that and then putting a face cover on? Seems suspicious to me."

"We shouldn't judge people based solely on appearances, Shou," Byakuren said.

"Well, now that you've taken it off him, his 'appearance' is a lot better," Minamitsu said, chuckling.

"I-I didn't want him to suffocate," Byakuren said, stammering slightly, but the Spy wasn't paying attention. They'd removed his balaclava? He realized he could no longer feel the familiar scratchiness of it, and instead could feel a gentle breeze on his skin. He leapt up, grabbing his third hidden knife (the other two had seemingly been taken from him), reaching to where he thought this Byakuren was, and was rewarded with a small gasp. He put the knife to her throat and put her between him and the two other people at the entrance.

"Hello," he said, as politely as he could. "Sorry about this, but I really can't have people seeing my face, it's part of my business, you know. In any other situation I would be pleased to wake up to you three lovely women, I'm sure. Unfortunately I woke up in this one." As he'd been speaking, the two women at the entrance had taken out their weapons, a spear and what looked like a ladle. The spy smiled grimly, his suspicions that this had merely been the semblance of a religious institution confirmed. After all, monks would probably never carry such weapons as a spear and a…well…ladle, which he guessed probably had some sort of special function. Monks would have had the traditional submachine guns that became the mark of the Buddhist religion since the great schism and reformation of 1902. The one with the spear growled.

Byakuren raised her hands. "There's no need for violence. I'm sure that he won't harm any of us."

The Spy looked at her incredulously. "I would assume that the knife I currently have pressed to your throat would indicate otherwise, were I in your position."

She waved a hand dismissively. "You misunderstand. I didn't mean you have no intention of hurting us, I simply meant you would be unable to do so."

The Spy raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"Our feminine wiles," she replied, smiling innocently. The one that had growled at him earlier groaned, while the one with the ladle smirked a bit.

"So you think I won't kill you because you're women? That's a rather large thing to assume about someone you've just met. Inaccurate, too," he said, pressing his knife closer to her throat. "I cannot allow people to see my face, you see, no matter their sex, race, or age."

"Even if that age is over five hundred?" she asked, while the other two looked at him with disgust. "Besides, I don't believe you for one second. "

"Oh? Well that's your belief, not mine. Still, since I'd rather not have to kill everyone until I found my mask, would you hand it over?"

Byakuren sighed dramatically. "Very well, very well. Here's your mask," she said, pulling it out from a pocket and handing it to him. "I don't know why you want it anyway, you look much better without it."

He gave her a withering look. "I regret to inform you that five hundred year old women aren't my type. Though I must admit you look rather well preserved for someone so old."

Her eyebrow twitched. "Indeed? I'm afraid you misinterpreted my point." She sighed. "But I'm getting off topic. After all, if your plan was to kill us you would have used the element of surprise, I should think. As you haven't, I don't think you plan on killing us at all." The Spy seemed to be about to speak, when she interrupted. "And believe me, I have met many who have truly wished to kill me, and you don't act like one of them. So would you kindly put the knife down so we can talk civilly?"

The Spy cursed under his breath. She was perceptive, this one. She knew he would prefer not to kill someone if they weren't the instigators. Or if he wasn't getting paid. Still, if he could make them angry enough, he could get away and the problem of his face being seen would be resolved. He looked at the two across from him, with their weapons drawn, and decided the one with the spear was his best bet. He turned towards her. "You haven't talked much. Anything you'd like to add?" She looked a bit startled that he'd decided to talk to her.

"Uh, well if anything happens to Byakuren, I'll kill you."

"Oh how original. Never heard that one before. Besides, make threats you can keep, will you? You can barely hold that spear anyway." He paused, looking at her more closely. "What are those things on your head?" he said blankly.

"What, my ears?"

"Those are tiger ears."

"What's your point?"

"Wait so you seriously," he began to chuckle, "believe you're a tiger? Pffhahahahaha, that's so…so stupid," He leaned on Byakuren's shoulder laughing, and took out his pocketwatch. The tiger woman began to growl. This set the spy off again, "You growl too? Ah ha ha ha wow, you're really into it. But I'm afraid you make a terrible tiger, my dear. Maybe, if you try really hard, you could pass for a little pussyca-"

"Shou, don't-" Byakuren shouted, but it was too late. The tiger woman growled and lunged forward. He smiled briefly before the spear penetrated his head. In actuality, the force had simply triggered his dead ringer, which pushed him backwards and cloaked him, while the replacement body became skewered on the spear. The tiger woman, who seemed to be called Shou, shuddered and dropped her spear, causing both it and the body to crumple to the floor in a heap.

"I didn't…I didn't mean to, I just got so angry and I-" she stammered.

"Hey, I was going to if you didn't," Minamitsu said. "The hell was that guy's problem?"

"Murasa," Byakuren said admonishingly. The ghost sighed and lowered her head. Byakuren walked over to Shou and pulled her into a hug. "It's ok Shou. He was provoking you. I can't imagine why, but he wanted you to attack him."

"Tha-that doesn't make it ok," the tiger youkai said, shivering.

The Spy chose this time to sneak out of the door and get as far away from this place as he could. He didn't particularly like causing pain to women, but certainly this was better than having to kill them. In addition, they would report back to whomever they were working for that he was dead, so he'd probably be home free. He walked down the wooden halls, trying to find a place he could make a new disguise. As he passed by a large courtyard, he saw a group of people (though some looked as if they had animal ears like the woman from earlier), dressed in white robes and praying, which would make for a perfect disguise. He glanced at his dead ringer to find it almost out of charge, so he ducked into the first room he found and decloaked. He didn't see anyone around, so he quickly took out one of his blank masks and sketched a picture of the most generic-looking man he could think of. On the back of the mask, he wrote a description of the clothing he'd seen the people in the courtyard wearing, white robes with wooden sandals. He put it on and waited until he saw the little puff of smoke that meant he'd successfully disguised. Grinning to himself, he opened the door and started walking nonchalantly around, looking for an exit.

As he walked, he found that the place really looked like a religious monastery, whoever had captured him had wanted it to look as realistic as possible. There had to be dozens of "worshippers," most in the act of praying, or meditating, or simply talking animatedly with one another. He'd stopped to listen to one of the conversations, and it had been about another temple that had opened up nearby and wondering how to deal with the tensions that arose because of it. The Spy was amazed at the amount of dedication these people had to their story, to act as if it were true even if everyone around was in on it. It was rare to have spies that good, let alone so many of them. He shook his head. It wasn't the time for such distractions.

Eventually, through subtle inquiries (luckily, no one thought he looked out of place), he found his way to the entrance. As he was about to leave, a hand landed on his shoulder. He looked back to find himself staring at a young girl with blonde hair, seemingly carrying a sickle in her left hand. He tried to keep his expression as calm as possible. "Yes?"

"Where're you going? We've gotta help set up for the festival."

The Spy closed his eyes, wondering if this was some kind of test or trick, to determine if anyone was trying to infiltrate their facility. He hadn't seen anyone doing any preparations when he'd been walking the grounds, but it was more likely that this first request would be accurate, so that they could get him alone and ask more questions. He took a deep breath. "Well, I was just gonna go out for a breath of fresh air, but if you insist. What do you need help with?"

The girl looked at him appraisingly, before her mouth widened into an evil grin. "That settles that then. Who are you really?"