Author notes: Got another long chapter here, I believe this is the second longest chapter so far. We passed from 2011 to 2012 where I am whilst I was writing this, the fireworks sorta distracted me from the writing...between that and the late time this may have some errors I haven't been able to spot but everything shouldn't be too bad.
A few mysteries are touched upon a little more, we get to see some more of things from the BLU perspective and I end the chapter on an...interesting note.
Chapter 10: The Impenetrable Fortress
Each member of BLU team was in the main resupply room, a mixture of panic and fear on their faces. Some spoke of suddenly being killed without warning by an unseen attacker, others spoke of a hidden sharpshooter, of the hell that awaited them in the RED base and of the enemy Engineer himself. Everyone, from the slow Heavy to the cocky Scout had waited for the entire team to be alive before they rushed out again.
Perhaps they wanted to wait and build a better offensive or maybe to voice their fears, to test the waters with their teammates before admitting that they were scared, that victory suddenly seemed far less certain. It took the Soldier roaring at the top of his voice and a clanging of his shovel on his helmet to silence the other men, subdued by the aggressive behaviour of the American, who immediately set to pacing about the room, insisting that "Not one of you sorry excuses for mercenaries leaves this room until we have a plan!"
The BLUs knew they had little time to prepare and thus things became efficient after that, with the Scout and Spy speaking of what the two of them had been able to see before dying and the Engineer theorising on what possible hazards could await them. The Sniper commented that the enemy appeared to have another sniper and that he'd be on the lookout to ensure that the Engineer hadn't suddenly gained additional allies. The Pyro's muffled words were mostly not understood or ignored, much to their annoyance, whilst the Demoman provided some reflections on what he'd noticed before being killed by the RED.
The team made their way towards the enemy base, clear plans forming between them. The Scout was to act solely on reconnaissance for now, using his already considerable speed and a can or two of Bonk to avoid damage. This task would be shared somewhat by the Spy, who would also look into disabling any traps if possible. The Sniper was to watch their backs from afar, trying to find any of the mystery allies the RED had seemed to somehow gain. Their Engineer was to provide a forward base of operations to fall back to and lick their wounds before renewing their push. Demoman, Soldier, Pyro, Heavy and Medic were to form the main offensive force.
There was some argument, especially considering that this left their own base practically defenceless but it was ultimately agreed upon. The RED was unlikely to be able to escape the base easily with all of them outside and they would be alerted rather quickly if he did find a way past them. It was decided that they should be able to hear him even if he somehow got to the sewers past his own traps, as moving silently in the water below the bridge was quite difficult and that with all the water. Even so, they'd send the Scout into the waters below and back to their base in-between recon attempts to ensure the enemy hadn't slipped by them undetected.
The RED Engineer made his way to the battlements, unsure of whether he'd be able to make a dash for the enemy base as the BLUs had taken longer than he'd expected to mount another attack. His question was answered in the form of a highly-accurate, high-calibre round to the head from the enemy Sniper. He stumbled back, wincing as his head shook from the impact before quickly regaining his senses and darting out of sight before the sharpshooter could get him again. The reinforced helmet of his meant that he could withstand otherwise lethal headshots but damn if they didn't hurt like hell.
As if in sympathy, the device on his back increased its output, the warm mist of healing vapours easing the pain and any injury caused to his skull. There was a stampede of feet and he knew the BLUs were coming. Whilst he could leap off the battlements now and face them head on, this was not the wisest course of action. True, he had taken the whole team out using a thruster and chaingun overdrive but that had been when they were startled. His chaingun had cooled down sufficiently but it would take a while before he could engage any overdrives again.
A frown and a slight growl. Some furious tapping of buttons on the device embedded into the gauntlet on his right hand and he retreated back into the base, hearing the distinctive voice of the other Engineer as he built a dispenser. When he had the element of surprise, chaos in the air or took them on in small groups he was more than capable of crushing the BLUs. But against all of them when they clearly had a plan? That would be difficult. No, he'd have to wait it out, trusting in his devious defence mechanisms to hold them at bay, biding his time until he could find an opening. A grin. This could work.
The BLU Sniper was saved only by his quick wits and experience, dodging to the side and out of sight just as the round punched a hole at head height into the wall behind where he'd been standing. He'd been expecting an unseen enemy this time and there were few battles that had taken place at Teufort where things hadn't devolved into Sniper duels. The difference this time was that it wasn't his RED counterpart. He didn't have a clue who it was, he'd not seen anything on the battlements apart from the Engineer earlier and yet he'd clearly been shot at and the origin point of the shot was definitely the RED base's battlements.
Just to be certain, he stepped out and quickly scanned over the battlefield, trying to find his mystery attacker before hastily stepping out of sight again. No shots were fired this time but he wasn't going to take any risks by sticking out his neck too long. Pulling the scope to his eye again and trying not to let the unusual circumstances faze him, he looked over his team, who appeared injured and were falling back to let the Medic and the dispenser heal them. Quickly bringing the rifle up to the enemy sniper deck once more, he noticed a strange flash on the wall before he slumped down dead, a clean hole in his head.
This fact was not lost on the BLUs as they prepared themselves for their next push. Those shots had definitely been from the RED base. The Soldier back-pedalled, aiming at the battlements and firing rockets blinded at any attackers who might be there in the hopes of wounding them. He was disappointed to hear no cries of pain but from the sound of things he'd probably caused some damage to the battlements themselves. The American decided not to dwell on it for now, he had to reload and lead his men on in the next push.
The Scout, for all his usual stamina and speediness, seemed worn out. Dashing into RED base, dodging multiple sentry guns, rockets, spikes and who knows what else then trying to escape with his life, all whilst trying to keep all that information in only to then sprint back to the BLU base and ensure all was well? Exhausting didn't even begin to cover it. Still, his information seemed to be helping and whilst they'd so far only took down a single sentry that was very close to the entrance, it was still progress. He wasn't exactly pleased with his task but if it meant his team could clear out everything so he could bash the hardhat's skull in? He could deal with it.
The Spy, for all his usual caution, was being even more careful than usual. He hadn't gotten much further into the base then anyone else had. Partly because he was moving slowly to conserve his cloak and partly because he was spending a good time observing the ground before he made each step. The Frenchman was starting to notice which parts of the floor were actually pressure-sensitive plates that were merely well-disguised and truth be told, considering the last time he'd been here had ended up with him soaked in...that, of all things...
Well, he wasn't going to be in a rush to find what the other pressure plates did. He'd also never admit it but he was getting quite nervous. Several times the sentries had paused when he passed by as if they'd somehow noticed him before they continued. And one modified one in the distance had actually locked onto him and started firing until he took a step back and darted out of the way, despite his apparent invisibility. It would seem their foe had found a way to detect his cloak and had upgraded several of his sentries with this ability although thankfully this didn't seem to hold true for many of them. He silently begged that none of the traps had been made to trigger on detecting an active cloak.
The Spy took a careful step forward before suddenly freezing, a great terror gripping him even though he was unsure why. He was positive he hadn't stepped on any...oh. At waist height there was a red beam that had suddenly flickered into existence, the usually invisible laser tripwire broken by his body. There was a sound of moving gears on both sides as well as above him as hatches opened. He looked up and once more wished he hadn't. This time though, it was not the jarred urine of an Australian that caused his brain to break, unable to think of even a single good expression to utter in dismay. The jarate had been the warning. This was the real deal.
That was his last thought before his mask was instantly turned into ash and blasted away, his face melting sickening off his already darkening skull. In moments there was no trace of the Spy besides his burnt remains, the incredibly high-temperature burners having done their job. They burned for but a moment more before they disengaged and retreated out of sight once more.
The Demoman was not pleased. He'd been able to bounce his grenades around the corner to destroy a second sentry based on the Scout's directions only to find himself and the rest of the attacking members of the team coated in a yellow liquid that had fell from the ceiling. It took him a moment to make the connection as it had simply cascaded down rather than be dropped down in a jar but when his mind put two and two together it was already too late. Stickybombs that were not his own rolled to his feet and detonated, killing the Scotsman and wounding his retreating teammates.
The RED Engineer resisted the urge to laugh, his goggles and embedded gauntlet PDA revealing all. Whilst the BLUs had been able to destroy a mere two unmodified level three sentries that meant nothing. They were still unable to make any real progress inside. He'd seen the Spy burning himself during one of his attempts to escape. Unfortunately downstairs towards the main exit or the sewers was still too risky to use as long as the BLUs were attacking or with the Scout running by. Their Sniper had fallen earlier but he was unable to go out via the battlements as at the time the offensive force of BLU had been outside by their Engineer's nest, licking their wounds and ready to attack again if need be.
This was a cause of annoyance, as was the stray rockets from the Soldier that had damaged his Sniper defence. The carefully calibrated machine controlled Sniper rifle hidden within the battlement walls wasn't the most quick or efficient defence in the world, much unlike the actual Sniper. It could take quite a while for the limited AI to be ready to take a shot as it wouldn't fire unless it believed it had at least a 90% chance of scoring a lethal hit. The damage caused by the rockets had blown apart some of the wall, increasing the mechanism's vulnerability and the damage appeared to be slowing its processing.
Still, on the whole the BLU Sniper was a minor threat. He was out of range of his other defences, true, but the Texan was also out of the Australian's sight most of the time. The main danger caused by the Sniper would be that the Engineer would be severely slowed down or even stunned by the BLU's attacks, potentially leaving him vulnerable should another BLU attack.
In any case, he would wait a little longer. In the meantime, he set about strengthening his innermost defences, placing down additional sentries, preparing teleporter entrances and exits and making minor tweaks to modified buildings.
It was a horrible stalemate. The BLU team liked to believe they were making process but the true weight of their task eventually sunk in after half and hour of combat, barely any further ahead with their offense than they had been. They'd discovered dispensers with rotating flamethrowers, strange devices that could repair other buildings, spikes, electrified parts of the floor, hidden guns in the walls that shot poisoned darts and countless other weapons that had killed them before they'd even realised their fate.
The Scout had found himself awake in respawn several times after having been merely patrolling the BLU base or in the sewers, a horrible pain in his back. The Spy found that several sentries were able to detect him when cloaked and not even the unmodified buildings appeared to be fooled by his disguises. The Sniper had some small success, recognising the glint at the battlements as a scope and realising that the enemy had got some automated defense using a sniper rifle. Despite that, he had been forced to move from their own battlements and stay with the rest of the team near the front lines as he'd been killed from behind somehow whenever he took his scope to his eye.
The Medic was feeling particularly disgruntled, having been killed by RED stickybombs just as he was ready to unleash an Übercharge and make some real progress. Heavy was becoming increasingly enraged by the whole ordeal and the apparent cowardice of their foe, who none of them save the Spy, Sniper and Scout had even managed to catch glimpses of. Pyro seemed afraid, mumbling something about what was either "the vengeful dead" or "hungry for bread", most likely the former.
The whole team was sick of barely moving, of dying over and over, of being killed by unseen foes, of their enemy being just of their grasp. It was becoming increasingly tempting to just have the whole team rush forwards but that was tactical suicide. Any progress made would be quickly lost as they would likely all die and this would be the chance for the RED Engineer to escape by them.
Little did they know it, but it was already too late for that.
The RED Engineer moved carefully through the water, choosing to make the dash from the RED sewers to those of the BLU team when there was enough noise about to mask the sound of his escape. One of the downsides to his combat frame was that it severely hindered movement whilst swimming and it was actually easier in this instance to hold his breath and run underwater to the other side then attempt to struggle across.
It had been risky, but worth it. He'd seen that their Sniper had set himself up with his back to the wall of the BLU base, on the ground rather than the battlements, keeping an eye on things. Their Engineer had been getting restless, Frontier Justice at the ready, so that route was out. Whilst going through the base was dangerous, the Spy had recently gotten too close to a modified dispenser, the Scout had been killed by one of his drones and BLU had been pushed back by a combination of sentry fire and tossed stickybombs from another of his unseen drones. He'd been able to dodge all of his traps on the whole, only sustaining minor damage during his sprint to the sewers.
Whilst his building wouldn't attack him and he knew the pressure plate locations by heart, some traps could still be triggered. To get past any that were caused by motion sensors or laser tripwires he'd normally send a brief signal to disable them. He'd decreased the downtime to a few scant seconds considering the close proximity of BLU and whilst he'd been hit by some shrapnel from the enemy Demoman's grenades bounced around the corner and had some poison darts strike him from his own defences...he'd escaped fairly unscathed.
The darts had mostly rebounded off his more armoured sections and those that had scored direct hits were being countered by the healing effects of the LFD. Whilst in the past he'd been somewhat unwilling to leave his defences behind, he was fairly confident he could leave the base unattended this time around. His traps were well-placed, to the point that he could potentially have trouble getting past some of them and so far for all their destructive power BLU had yet to even get to the ramp room. Their Spy would once have been his downfall but his modifications would cause hell for the spook. After studying the Inviswatch blueprints he'd been able to detect the presence of cloaking and whilst he hadn't been able to integrate the ability into all of his buildings, enough of them had it to cause enough issues.
Repair nodes would slow the offensive might of the Soldier, Heavy, Pyro and Demoman as well as knock off any sappers the Spy might somehow be able to place. On the normal sentries he'd activated an override that disabled their usual friendly fire checks, causing them to target all mercenaries regardless of colour, making the Spy's disguise kit near useless. It could still admittedly be used to leech health from dispensers...but everyone was covered by the sight of at least one sentry and most were upgraded with a flamethrower defense. It was an obvious trap, the dispenser acting as bait and the flamethrower preventing the Frenchman or anyone else coming close.
It was simple but could cause a lot of turmoil, especially on any occasion the Spy found himself with a poison dart digging into his skin and too little time to return to his team. It was a truly evil way of doing things, as was a lot of what he was doing, truth be told. He'd specifically designed his defences to inspire fear, to give them despair, to strip away hope of progress and to humiliate them.
He'd ensured that every member of the team had been coated in the late Sniper's excretion at least once, relishing the recorded reactions and knowing that somewhere else his team would be roaring in laughter over it. His droids were designed to help fulfill roles he could not do by himself, providing useful information and skirmishing capabilities whilst destroying the BLU's morale. They still hadn't uncovered the cause of many of their deaths and believed he had additional help.
Well, it was partly true. The droids and several defenses that had been styled after his departed teammates, in memory of them and in acknowledgement that certain gaps in the battlefield had to be filled. The small robots were capable of moving at good speed, climbing onto walls and ceiling and had their own specialised capabilities. One used stolen Inviswatch and disguise kit technology to remain invisible without cloak flicker and was capable of projecting limited holograms. Another was suited for recon, capable of great speed, limited flight and stunning foes. And finally one had a regenerating supply of explosives in the form of stickybombs.
Perhaps the BLUs would figure it out. Their Sniper had eventually destroyed the long-range defence, which could be considered a much more limited device with similar purposes as the others. Maybe they would put two and two together and they could possibly even find some way of striking back against the small, unseen foes.
But that did not matter.
Not when the RED demon was in their base, laying down sentries, mini-sentries and teleporter exits. He was heading for the intel once more, thinking all the while. There was a chance that after respawning the Scout would bump into him when checking the area. A problem. Getting back into his base, chased by the BLUs and having to avoid his own traps? A much bigger problem.
"...but in the end, problems don't matter. There ain't a problem I can't overcome, not now."
A spoken thought, quiet and measured as a gauntleted hand rested on the team-coloured briefcase. The mercenary took a deep breath and shut his eyes for a moment before they snapped open once more, dancing with flames.
A blur of motion, the briefcase just another burden on his back, a voice calls out from the loudspeakers as he runs and nine enemy mercenaries roar in disbelief, preparing themselves. Mere details, not truly worthy of his attention, not at this point in the time.
Beeps, notifications, a savage smile full of white teeth, a storm brewing. There was no obstacle he couldn't overcome, no enemy that could stop him, no force in this world he couldn't bend to his will if required.
Soon, BLU would realise that. Soon, RED and BLU, Mann co, TF Industries...none would matter. Hell was to be unleashed and these little games would cease.
He'd grown tired of this, of not being able to use his full potential, of being bound, of being another one of the Administrator's dogs. He'd grown tired of being careful around the BLUs, of having to plan and rethink and strike only at opportune moments. He'd grown tired of this long, bloody, pointless war.
It was time for change. It was time for vengeance. It was time for all hell to be truly revealed to the world!
A dangerous crackle of energy, a powerful buildup, systems ready and waiting to release it all:
He was fully charged...