As the base was suddenly plunged into darkness, there was a shrill scream and the sound of someone falling to the floor. After a moment of frantically scrambling by the entire team, someone let out a muffled cry of success and there was the sound of a match striking as Pyro lit a matchstick, casting the room in a dim, pale yellow light.

The light only lasted for a few seconds as the match quickly burnt out, sending the room back into darkness as pyro let out an annoyed grunt and continued rummaging around in the dark for a better light source.

There was a sudden click and a beam of light shone through the darkness, its source being a dull blue flashlight in soldiers hands.

"Where are your flashlights men!? Did you-" Soldier was suddenly silenced mid-rant as a gloved hand grabbed the torch out of his hands and pointed it at a wooden crate next to the old (and now dead) stove. Using one hand to hold the torch, Pyro rummaged through the crate before finally unearthing an old oil lamp.

Putting the flashlight down, the fire-bug used its now free hand to tap the lamp, causing its wick to suddenly combust into a small flame.

The lamp put the room in a much more steady light than the match, its orange glow sharply contrasting the tint of blue the walls were done in.

Setting the lamp down, Pyro resumed a cross legged seating position in front of the lamp, its glass eyes pointed down at the lamp and its flame.

Scout scooted over to the lamp, with the rest of the team following suit. The expressions on each classes face was staggeringly varied, ranging from the not-really-concerned look on Spy's face the the absolutely-terrified look Sniper had. Scout himself was somewhere on the 'sacred' end of the spectrum, but he was nowhere near as scared as sniper was.

At least, that's what he told himself.

"Ah reckon," Engineer said, settling down next to Sniper and Pyro. "That tha storm's gone an' blown out the darn fuse again. Scoots, I'ma need ya to go an' check tha circuit box."

"The what now?" Scout asked, staring blankly at the texan.

"Tha circuit box. It's a black box with a yellow 'bolt on it right next to-"

"Oh yeah! That thing! But…" Scout glanced out at the window, where the storm was still hitting hard. "...Right now? I mean, it's like a freaking rain blizzard out there! A rain blizzard with lightning! Can't I wait until later?"

"Scoot, we ain't got any power until you go check them fuses; An I hate to tell ya, but that storm ain't gonna settle down til tomorrow. I reckon ya best shot is ta go now when there's still some light."

"Fine." Scout pouted, reaching for his still wet t-shirt and shoes.

"Ya know what ya meant ta do with them switches?"

"Engie, I ain't some dumbass like Solly. I know how to flick a freaking switch."

"Fine. If ya say so Scout."

putting his still wet (and now cold) clothing back on, Scout got up and pulled his aluminium baseball bat out of his bag. In weather like this, his gun wasn't going to be much use if he couldn't even aim it right and anyways, the ceasefire was still in place.

It still didn't hurt to be prepared though.

After a second thought, he brought out another pale can of Bonk! and put it in his pocket.

Walking over to the door, Scout opened it and disappeared into the rain.

In all fairness, a 'rain blizzard' was an accurate description of the weather outside.

The rain was coming down at an almost horizontal angle and Scout was reduced to a fraction of his normal speed as he pushed on through the downpour.

Running through the gale was tiring, and Scout could feel his already slow (well, slow relative to his usual speed) pace slow even more. But he refused to stop. What if something caught him out here like the RED Spy, or, even worse, the ghosts of the original team?

Ghosts?

Well, he'd seen some weird shit in the year and a half he'd been on the team, so perhaps ghosts wasn't a too far-fetched theory.

He rounded a corner to face the brown, wooden building in the middle of the complex. He was close now. The box should be around her-

Scout's thinking was suddenly cut short as he tripped over something heavy, landing on the wet ground with a spectacular crash.

"Fuck!" Scout vehemently swore, instanly trying to jump up again, only for his ankle to give out on him.

Sitting up in the puddle of mud he now found himself in, Scout glared at the object that had caused his fall and subsequently, his injury.

And then froze.

Right by his injured foot, one end driven into the mud by the force of Scout's impact, was a black box with a stylised yellow lightning bolt on it.

Scout scooted over to the box and examined it more carefully. It was definitely the fuse box he was looking for. The thick cables on either end of the box had been torn out, as if someone had ripped the box from its mounting on the shack wall. He tried to turn over the box, but it proved to be too heavy for him to even lift, let alone turn.

Scout looked at the box for a moment before standing up, carefully trying to avoid putting too much weight on his injured foot. The sprain hurt, but it wasn't that bad – he'd had run entire matches with worse injuries than this. He had to get back to base and tell the others about this sudden turn of events though.

He was about to walk of back to the rest of his team when scout spotted something else in the mud. Several feet away was another box, similar to the circuit one he'd been sent to check up on, but it was about half the size and it lacked any sort of markings on its surface.

The runner awkwardly bent down to it and picked up the smaller box. It was nowhere near as heavy as the circuit box and he could easily pick it up. Upon closer inspection, he found that there was something written on it, but in the low light, he couldn't read it. Judging by the torn wires along its top, Scout managed to conclude that it has suffered the same fate as the fuse box.

Tucking the box under his arm, Scout turned to face the way he'd came. If Engie and the others didn't believe him, they couldn't deny it if he brought back….

Scout paused and looked at the thing again. Just what was this? It looked like like some sort of fuse box, so surely it was important. It looked like at had a door of some sort, but it appeared to be locked.

Tucking it back under his arm, Scout turned back to base.

It was going to be a long walk.

The base door opened and a very wet and a very pissed looking Scout stumbled into the still dark base, attracting the attention of everyone except Demo, who'd fallen into a drink-induced stupor on the floor.

"Finally decided to come back hmm?" Spy asked, removing the cigarette from his mouth and tapping off the ash.

"I ain't in any freaking mood for ya freaking mouth ya French ass." Scout growled, collapsing on the floor next to Pyro.

"Ya took ya sweet time scout." Engineer grumbled, getting up and walking over to scout. "An' where's our power?"

"Couldn't do it."

"Scout, ah thought you said ya knew where it was."

"And what took ya so bloody long?" Sniper added. "Faster than a speeding bullet my ass."

"I had a problem." Scout threw the box on the floor in front of him. "Someone's gone an' removed the freaking thing."

"What the bloody hell are ya talking about mate?" Sniper asked irritatedly. "That thing weighs a bloody ton! Ya cant go go removin' it like it's some picture!"

"Well, it was on the freaking ground Snipes, along with whatever the hell that thing is." Scout waved a hand at the black box he'd thrown down. "Seriously, what the hell is that thing Engie?" he turned his head to face the texan.

"Scout…" Engineer said, his face suddenly very pale. "Did ya say the fuse box was broken?"

"Yeah pal, I did. Nice someone here freaking believes me."

"Oh no…" he breathed. "Team, ah reckon we have a problem." everyone's heads turned to the Engineer.

"Ya mean the fact we have no freaking power? Good job hardhat! You get a freaking gold star" Scout gave a mocking clap, only to stop when he everyone was staring at him.

"Ah mean the fact that at this moment, we 'ave no respawn."

"Vhat?" Medic flatly asked, disbelief in his voice. "Are you sure?"

"Yup."

"So...vi are mortal? As in, vi haff no safety net?" His voice began to take on a panicked undertone as he spoke, as if he was scared of the fact he was questioning.

"Yup." Medic let out a shaky breath and leaned back, all the colour suddenly draining from his face.

"Ok, how the freaking hell did ya let that happen!?" Scout exclaimed, fear tinting his voice. "I thought you had like backups and backups of the backups and then backu-"

"Scout, ah get ya point. The problem is, all them backups are for mechanical failures an' the like. They ain't for sabotage."

"Well, why the freaking hell not?! I mean, they have a freakin' Spy! Thats his entire freaking job!"

"Because Scout, this may be a war, but we have rules." Spy interjected. "And I obey the rules of war, Unlike some people.…" he looked around the room, his gaze pausing on Soldier and Medic in particular. "And anyways, this iz not how I would work. Cutting wires? How amateur." He gave a snort of contempt at the thought.

"So, vhat is plan now?" Heavy asked, casting a few worried glances at Medic, who was being unusually silent.

"Men, this changes NOTHING!" Soldier yelled, jumping up at the chance to lecture the team. "You are all SOLDIERS in the service of our GLORIOUS country! You do not NEED COMMUNIST technologies such as RESPAWN in order to fight! We have ALL fought before without RESPAWN and we shall all do so again!"

"As much as it pains me to say this, Sol has a point." Everyone's heads snapped around to face Sniper. "I mean, we're all here 'cause we're the best at killin' people without gettin' killed ourselves. 'Cept for Scout. I still have no bloody idea why he ended up on our team of…'professional' mercenaries in the first place. Probably got lost lookin' for baseball tryouts." Sniper added, extracting a rather ungentlemanly snort of laughter from Spy.

"Hey! Ya saying that I ain't good enough for you guys?"

"What I'm sayin' is," Sniper continued, ignoring scout's protests. "Is that we've managed to do our jobs for god-knows-how-long without respawn. So i-"

"Nein." Medic suddenly interjected, his voice surprisingly steady despite his appearance. "Vi vill not fight until vi haff our respawn back." he got up and faced Soldier, fixing the amercian a steely look with his brown eyes.

"What's that? Are you SCARED Medic?"

"Yes." He quietly responded, a mixture of fear and horror making his voice shake ever so slightly

"Are you SCARED of those commie bastards?!"

"No, I am scared of vhat you fools vill do. I haff seen so many fools die because they think they are brave enough to fight vithout waiting for reinforcements. Vi can not afford to take risks right now. The moment our respawn dropped is the moment this war stopped being a game and started being reality."

"But if we die, we shall die a GLORIOUS death fighting our–"

"There is no such thing as a glorious death in war." The German snapped. "I have seen enough death in the war to know that it is all pointless in the end. There is only the illusion that what vi fight for is right and worth dying for. It does not matter whether you fight for a company, a god, a führer or an idea, or even if you fight on the winning or losing side, the result is the same." he turned away from the group and sighed. "One death is a tragedy but a thousand is merely a statistic. And I refuse to let this team become just that – a statistic the administrator will quote when she finds our replacements. Just another name among the thousand of others who I failed to save. Just another number in this pointless war."

What followed was a silence so foreboding that not even Scout could break it. Even the sound of the storm outside seemed to have faded in the face of it.

At least, that's what everyone thought.

"I don't know what war you fought in, but no war of mine would EVER accept an UNPATRIOTIC COWARD like YOU in their midsts. You sir, are a DISGRACE to your country!"

Another silence. Everyone's focus was on Soldier as he triumphantly looked at Medic, his eyes filled with satifactisfaction underneath the lid of his helmet.

And then, without another word, Medic stormed off, his anger saturating the area around him as he went by the team. He opened the door to the outside and disappeared into the downpour, letting the door slam shut behind him.

"Ah don't think we're fighting tomorrow." Engineer finally said, breaking the silence once more. "Heavy, would'a mind going out there an' trying to talk ta doc?" Heavy nodded and got up to exit the room.

"An' can ya please hurry up pal? My leg's killing me here pal." Scout added, indicating his injured ankle. Now that it wasn't half submerged in freezing water, the injury had started to hurt and swell up.

Heavy nodded again and left the base.

Scout shivered and looked at the small oil lamp in the middle of the room, its weak, yellow light casting strange shadows on everyone. He was still soaking wet, and the lack of any heat source in the room was making itself painfully clear to him.

He looked up to the remaining few members of the team that were left conscious in the room. Engineer had taken Soilder in the corner and was lecturing him about...something. Pyro was sitting cross legged, its head tilted down at the small flame. It hadn't moved at all for the last five minutes and Scout was starting to suspect that it had fallen asleep. Spy and Sniper had shifted to the other side of the lamp and were discussing something in hushed voice.

Scout sighed and took off his top and wrung it out. He didn't want to even try removing his shoes in the fear that he'd just make his injury worse.

He fished out the still un-drunken can of soda from his pocket and opened it.

This was going to be a long night.

Changelog 8-6-16

+ added new chapter

/I'll be honest here - I feel this is my best chapter yet. IDK what you guys think, but combined with the atmosphere of the last chapter, I think it works really well. But that's my opinion. What do you guys think?

/Also, not sure when, but I'll be going though what I've already written and doing some corrections - nothing major mind you, just a few grammar fixes and consistency edits