Author notes: Originally this chapter was going to be a lot longer and go much further but, well...things took longer than I expected and I decided to break things down into more chunks. This should mean more chapters, more frequent updates and an easier job at writing for me (in theory) than if I tried to keep the battle to fewer chunks. Also, I'm going to be placing additional author notes at the bottom of the chapter for things that are best discussed after the chapter has been read. I may just move all notes to the bottom in future.
Chapter 8: The RED Demon
BLU team waited in their respawn as the Announcer counted down, a mix of emotion between them. They had each individually endured their own horrific punishments, some taking weeks to recover whilst others hid their pain underneath confident smiles. Here was their last chance: at redemption, at victory, of finally escaping this endless bitter war. All they had to do?
Kill a single man. Secure the enemy intelligence. Simple.
But there were doubts. The Spy and Engineer in particular were uncertain if it would be as easy as it seemed. At first glance their team should be able to steamroll RED: it was nine against one, their enemy was hardly a master of direct combat and his death would be irreversible, whilst the mercenaries of BLU merely out of the action for a short while, after which respawn would allow them to jump back into the fray.
But in this war, if there was anything these men knew, it was that things were rarely as they appeared. Technology beyond anything else the world had ever seen, a system that could allow you to cheat death, secret bases, ghosts, teleporters, haunted swords, weapons that defied reality...
The Announcer finished her countdown and the doors opened, leading to their resupply room and beyond that, the rest of their base and the battlefield beyond. BLU charged, each member yelling their unique battle cry, the whole team heading to the battlements regardless of their normal route, all to see the poor, brave soul who would fall before their might.
The Last Engineer was silent, lost in thought, his face set in grim determination as the Announcer's voice passed over the battlefield and through the bases. He had done all he could, he had spent his time tirelessly working towards this day, his only chance to avenge his team, to unleash his fury upon the world. His eyes blazed, his heart pounded, and his fists were clenched. There could be no regret or remorse, only the drive, the will to survive and succeed, for one man to stand tall against many and win.
The doors opened and the Texan darted forward with more agility than he was known for, sharply turning left, then right and screeching to a stop on the Sniper deck as he glared at the BLUs on the other side. Both teams halted, taking each other in as the sun shined down on the two bases, the light gleaming off the RED Engineer's robotic left arm as he held it by his side, trembling slightly as the BLUs simply stared at the man before them.
His tattered and bloodied clothes had been replaced but this was probably the last thing that caught their eye. Upon his back was what resembled a dispenser, glowing with energy as it bathed its creator in a serene glow and beneath it, strapped directly to his back at an angle was a longsword like no other, a blade forged by the union of the will to destroy and the will to create: the unity of Demoman and Engineer, hardened with his tireless resolve. His left arm was a masterpiece of machinery, heavily plated, flexible and menacing as it pointed at the BLU team. Where he used to wear a rubber glove on his right hand there was now a reinforced gauntlet with a display and buttons built into the back, the purpose of which was a mystery. Upon further inspection his entire body was reinforced in some way, strange armour-plating merged with his normal attire, a mechanical exoskeleton enhancing his durability and strength. Massive boots carried thrusters in their soles, capable of boosting jumps, movement speed and reducing both fall and splash damage. His helmet looked much the same but seemed to be made of a tougher material and had bits and pieces patched onto it in odd places. His goggles were as dark as ever but held a computerised display within them, giving the Engineer a HUD and other vital information. Beneath those goggles, those eyes held rage, they held sadness, a desire for vengeance and the forever burning will to carry it out.
The last RED spoke out, his voice reaching over the battlefield with ease, vibrating the air with its tranquil fury:
"BLU team, one month ago you took my world away from me. One month ago I fled, a shadow of a man caught up in his own sorrows and pains. One month ago, your attempt at destroying RED failed. It failed completely, because those eight other men are with me, as much a part of me as the heart that beats in my chest or every drop of electrified blood in my body!"
His robotic arm suddenly shot up, scattering light as it did so, one finger pointing at the mercenaries opposite him. His blank face changed, a fierceness like no other taking over his features as his quiet voice became a booming roar.
"Use all the bullets you want! You cannot kill me, you cannot kill my team, you cannot stand against the retribution that will descend from the heavens! For I will slay each and every last one of you, again and again without the slightest pause! You'll wish you could simply die and weren't resurrected to face my wrath over and over, you'll pray for an end..."
Silence. A breath. His hands clenched into fists once more and for the first time, despite the distance between the bases and the goggles on his face, the BLU team saw the raging supernova in his eyes, the eternal flame that seared and pulsed through him.
"I'm not just a man, not some mortal who'll die with a shot to the head or a knife to the back! I'm not some mere Engineer or a mercenary who can be swayed through money or fear! I am nobody's toy, I am nobody's prey, I am nobody...that anyone should DARE to fuck with ever again! Come at with me if you wish, whether you are armed soldiers or the masters of the world or even Gods! So be it, send your armies, there's not one thing that can stop the SHEER ROARING SPIRIT OF THIS ONE MAN! For I am JUSTICE! I am REVENGE! I am RETRIBUTION! And I...AM THE GODDAMN ENGINEER!"
With that final incensed battle cry that seemed to shake the earth itself, the red demon leapt into the air, sweeping his left arm out, hand extended as plates shifted away and a concealed chaingun thrusted out of his palm, already spinning. Before BLU could even move or gape in surprise, the mercenary had cleared the gap between the bases in a single bound, falling towards the battlements as the weapon his left arm had become span, spitting firey death from the heavens above with high-calibre incendiary ammunition at an incredible rate of fire.
The Heavy could only watch in pure shock as he saw his team fall all around him, his body aflame in pain as the enemy Engineer landed to one side of him with a mighty thud and a small dust cloud, the man already getting out of his crouch, his chaingun having stopped firing for a brief moment. The Medic cried out in pain, causing the Heavy to whirl around and drop his weapon, cradling the German who was barely standing, bleeding fiercely, his labcoat burning. The Heavy knew that the Medic was about to die and that respawn would pick the doctor and his other teammates up but that part of him was ignored by the instinctive urge to see to the Medic's safety.
His back was to the Texan as the last RED reached for his primary weapon, a devastating double-barrelled shotgun that sparked and crackled with energy. His eyes took in the scene, the dead or gravely injured BLUs all on the floor from his charge, except the Russian and his doctor, who he held in his large arms. There was no emotion, merely the sound of him cocking the mighty weapon, the Heavy turning slowly to find twin barrels poking into his broad chest.
There was no smile, no pity, no remorse or some witty one-liner. The Engineer fired, bracing himself for the incredible recoil as a deafening boom filled the air, the sound akin to the hammer of Thor himself crashing down from the heavens with thunder and lightening. The whole world seemed to be silent, the Heavy and Medic nowhere to be seen, only a massive scattering of blood, dust and smoke even suggesting that there had been something resembling human bodies standing there previously.
From the corner of his eye, the red demon noticed a corpse fade away and his ears twitched to a distinct sound of the Dead Ringer deactivating behind him. He dropped his weapon, knowing it would take too long to reload, reaching for the sword on his back even as the BLU Spy's knife was driven by a steady hand into his back...
The contraption on the Engineer's pack sparked as the blade made contact, electrocuting the Spy and temporarily disabling the backpack, the knife falling to the ground as the BLU writhed in agony, stumbling backwards. Without any change in his movements or expression, the Texan unsheathed the sword with only the slightest noise, the fine blade whistling as it cut through the air, cleaving the Frenchman's head from his shoulders with only the slightest resistance.
The swing completed, the red demon flipped his grip and thrust the blade to the other side, twisting his entire body as he did so, impaling the Sniper who'd stumbled to his feet with a Kukri raised in his hand. A surprised splutter from the Australian, blood flying from his mouth as he gargled, eyes rolling back. With a sharp tug the weapon was wrenched from the BLU's limp body. A calculated flick from his wrist followed by a small rotation of the blade itself and the sword was cleaned of any blood before it was returned to the sheath on his back.
The Level Four Dispenser (LFD) on his back beeped back into life, providing its master with the benefits of the Medigun and a portable level three dispenser along with the defensive utility of a Razorback once more. The last feeble beats of the wounded BLUs faded as he stepped over their bodies, making his way into their base. The whole affair had taken less than half a minute in its entirety, most of the mercenaries downed within mere seconds of his surprise charge.
But from here on, things would only be more difficult and the real battle had yet to begin. He had used the temporary overdrive in his chaingun and boosts combined with the element of surprise to perform that slaughter, briefly boosting the fire rate of the concealed weapon and the thrust output of the footwear to allow him to crush most of the BLUs in a single swoop. His chaingun, whilst having a respectable standard rate of fire, greater accuracy than any minigun and a chance of alighting his foes with its unique ammunition, was not without downsides. The Heavy's standard minigun had a greater damage output and while the Engineer didn't need to concern himself over ammunition as long as the LFD functioned, his concealed chaingun was liable to overheat if fired too long or during overdrives, meaning he'd have to use careful bursts of fire from it for a while to help it cool down.
His almighty shotgun, Vengeance, was lethal to anything and everything at point-blank range but was slow to reload and less useful at range. It had an alternative firing method that was more accurate, firing one shell at a time instead of both at once, but the issue of its incredible recoil meant he had to brace himself for each shot else be blown backwards from the force. He'd reduced recoil within the weapon's design as much as possible, but a careless shot could still potentially break his arm or shoulder.
Yes...when BLU respawned he would have difficulties. For all his work in building a powerful defensive frame and having the LFD granting him vastly accelerated healing, he was still vulnerable to concentrated weapons fire and was very much mortal. BLU wouldn't be underestimating his own combat capabilities anymore and he wouldn't have surprise on his side. They'd be more cautious, more likely to get the first shot, more likely to force him to retreat temporarily.
He turned round the corner, casually dropping a small pod that unfurled itself into a mini-sentry as he ran towards the intel room, reloading Vengeance and reverting his chaingun into his left hand for the time being. BLU would respawn any moment now. They would know what to expect from him...mostly. A sudden smile graced his features, melting his frozen face as he chuckled to himself, heading down the spiralling slope to the basement. He still had tricks up his sleeves and if they thought they could just race into the RED base whilst he was gone...by hell they'd have another thing coming to them!
In RED base, all was silent...if one was to ignore the beeps and whirs of the countless carefully placed sentries that littered the base and the sewers along with the occasional dispenser, each gun placed strategically to cover each other sentry. Parts of the floor, upon close observation, seemed out of place, actually pressure pads to activate traps. Motion sensors hidden in the walls and hidden cameras observed every opening into the base and key areas beyond. Within the ceilings flammable gas canisters and jars lay in wait for anyone foolish enough to enter. On the battlements, small holes in the wooden walls suddenly became alive as stock sniper rifles poked out, shifting their angles as the gazed out at BLU base, ready and waiting.
Elsewhere, assorted mobile drones came to life, moving out, climbing up walls, hiding behind barrels, darting into the sewers, activating stolen invisibility technology or laying down sticky bombs concealed within their bodies. Simple, small machines each with their own purpose and limited AI, linked to each other and the device embedded in their master's gauntlet, feeding data into their master's goggles.
An array of traps, hazards, machines and specially-modified sentries and more awaited the BLU team, the RED base a nightmarish deathtrap. The results of a genius working without rest for a solid month with an amazing array of resources and information, driven by his teammates. He'd raided intel, stolen unreleased or scrapped projects from HQ, modified blueprints and constructed the weapons that would see him to victory.
Not the weapons HQ had tested, evaluated, re-evaluated, tested again, argued over, signed legal documents over then eventually pushed past the bureaucracy to the mercenaries with some downgrades out of fear of what the insane teams would do with true destructive power. No. He had worked without limits, refining existing ideas, combining traits, creating new elements from scratch and all the while as he worked remembering two things: the people he held so dear and the last instructions he'd gotten from the Administrator...
"DO WHATEVER IS NECESSARY TO WIN"
He'd do more than that...he'd do more than just carry out her simple games, fetching briefcases like some trained monkey. He'd do more than strike unending fear into the hearts of the BLU team, more than crushing their spirits under his righteous fists as he wrought vengeance upon them.
He would unleash the demon within. He would do the impossible, break the unbreakable, end the unendable eternal war. The mysteries would be solved, two corporations would be dealt with and a woman with the world in her grasp would be confronted.
The Showdown had begun, the RED Demon was unleashed.
Author notes: This one was hard to write and there a lot of things about it that I'm not happy with or went different to what I had originally planned but the general ideas for this chapter remain intact. This and the next few chapters are the ones I've been thinking the most about ever since I started this fic, so they've undergone a lot of changes when I've been planning them. Hopefully the Engineer's speech wasn't too long or unbearable, I was trying to capture the powerful energy and emotion he felt but was unsure if I was able to capture it and the chaos afterwards correctly.
Don't worry, things will be a lot less one-sided and more interesting next chapter, where the battle truly begins.