Tick...tick...tick…
The clock on the wall counted down the seconds, each moment taking seemingly longer than the last to pass.
Scout groaned and rolled his head back, the back of it hitting the white and blue wall of the respawn room.
Respawning outside of battle always took forever as the Engineer always kept the thing on minimum power when they weren't actively fighting.
After the fight had been broken up by Pyro burning Spy alive, the team had split up to deal with what had happened in their own ways. And despite his preconceived popularity, Scout had all of a sudden found himself very alone.
Now that he thought about it, he really didn't have that many friends in the team. Heavy, Engineer and Spy both saw him as an unprofessional who should really be in school instead of running around out here killing people, Sniper and Demoman saw him as a hyper kid who was necessary for the team to work, but who could also cut down a little on his sugar intake, Soldier saw him as yet another rebellious private in his imaginary army and he wasn't actually quite sure about what Pyro and Medic thought of him. He was only really friends with Demo and Soldier to be entirely honest, and even then, only when they were lucid and sober. Everyone else waved him away for being brash, immature or for just being too young.
He sighed.
Even here, the stigma of being the youngest still followed. Just this time, he was the youngest of nine, not seven.
Being the youngest always meant that you were left out and looking round here, Scout couldn't help but see that that rule applied here too. Everyone here had someone else they could depend on. Engineer had Pyro, Heavy had Medic, Demo had Soilder and then there was that weird rivalry between Sniper and Spy that Scout couldn't help but think was something for than just a rivalry...
Scout quickly shook his head in disgust at the image his mind had formed. Christ, that man was a fucked up pervert, no matter how he looked at him. One moment, he was the utter picture of gentlemanly charm, the next he was slitting someone's throat over some petty dispute. As much as the unstable firebug scared him, Spy, with all his powers of invisibility and charm, almost scared him even more.
A growling noise interrupted his thoughts as his stomach painfully reminded him that he had yet to have a proper meal that day. Maybe he should get and get something to eat. It wasn't like the rest of the team were going to respawn anytime soon. And anyways, what was he hoping that the remaining three classes could do? Sniper would just call him 'ankle-boiter' and shoo him away, Medic would just disappear back down to his office without a single word and Scout really didn't want to bump into Spy again.
"Scmrph?"
The Scout was suddenly dragged out of his thoughts as a familiar blue figure entered the respawn room. He could feel fear overtake his mind again as the Pyro walked over to him and sat down. He couldn't stay here. This...thing had burnt a man to death and laughed all the while. Who was to say it wouldn't do the same to him?
"Oh jesus...get away from me ya freak!" He yelled, fear raising the pitch of his voice to a squeak. He scooted away from the firebug, but his escape was impeded when his back hit the corner of the room.
The thing looked at him for a long moment before letting a long, muffled sigh and turning away.
Scout sat there for a long, five minutes, not daring to move his eyes away from the thing in the fear that it'd set something (namely him) on fire.
But it didn't do anything of the sort. It just sat there, head tilted slightly down with its hands in its lap.
Eventually, he looked away, letting out a shaky breath as he did so. Right now, he wanted to be out on the battlefield more than ever, where his biggest concern was where the Engineer had put his sentry, not if their own Spy would turn his own blade against them. He had power out there, he could do something instead of cowering in fear like he was in here. He didn't have to watch Spy murder his teammates when he had a gun in his hands.
He took off his bag and got out his gun. Why didn't he just go ahead and shoot the sick bastard when he had that knife of his to Medic's neck? That was all the Pyro had done, so why couldn't he do the same? Hell, why was he scared of Spy in the first place?
His mind kept on going on circles as he contemplated the same questions over and over again until they almost made no sense and he'd given himself a headache. Eventually, he gave and up and put his gun away.
Suddenly, the room was lit up with a flash of azure light as finally, the Medic respawned.
The man staggered for a few steps before collapsing on the ground. He had a gloved hand on his neck and a look of excruciating pain on his face.
"Doc!" Scout yelled, jumping up and running over to the fallen man. "Christ, ya alright pal?"
"Vhat?" He asked, confusion in his voice. "Scout? Vhat are you doing here?"
"Uh…" Scout paused. There was no way he was going to admit the truth about this one. "Reasons."
The Medic nodded, his mind too focused on the pain in his neck to fully understand what Scout had said.
"Vhat happened aftervards?"
"Well…" Scout paused for a second. "Snipes died an' then Spy kinda threatened us an' then...Pyro burnt 'im."
"That vas not our Spy?"
"Nah, it was. Pyro burnt our own Spy. An'," he swallowed nervously. "And he laughed while doing it."
Medic sighed and pushed himself up into a standing position.
"Ya right doc. This team's screwed up. Majorly screwed up." The German sagely nodded at this.
"Well...ya see why I don't have a father now?"
The Doctor opened his mouth as if to say something, but instead paused, contemplating scout's question for a second.
"Da." He finally replied. "I can see vhy."
Another flash of blue light interrupted them as sniper suddenly appeared clutching at his throat. He staggered backwards before hitting the wall, the impact knocking his hat and glasses off.
"Yo Snipes!" Scout called. "You're back!"
"Bloody hell…" He muttered, realising that he was back within the blue and white walls of the respawn room. "What are you'se lookin' at mate? And what the bloody hell are ya doin' 'ere ankle-boiter?"
"Y'know, stuff." Scout shrugged. "An' why not? I ain't got anything better ta do."
"So, what 'appened?"
"Pyro killed 'im. Set 'im on fire and...and laughed."
"Well, that bugger bloody well deserved it." Sniper spat at the mention of the Frenchman.
"Dude...Pyro set 'im on fire. And laughed about it. I mean, Spy didnt even attack 'im or anything! She just.."
"Scout, we get the bloody point. Py's messed up. Ya don't need ta fixate on it."
"Indeed gentlemen." There was another flash of blue as the Spy respawned back into existence. Unlike the other two, he didn't stumble or trip at all. Lighting a cigarette, he smiled at the three genially, as if he hadn't murdered two of them earlier. "To be entirely honest, I don't even know why we have zhat daemon spawn on our team."
"Christ!" Scout yelled, spinning around to face the man, who was standing uncomfortably close to him.
The other two men whipped out their weapons and pointed them at the spy.
"Ya bloody cunt…" Sniper swore, his kukri at the ready.
"Schadenfreude..." Medic muttered under his breath, pointing his needle gun at the man.
"There is no need for name calling, Bruce, Josef." Spy childed, taking ahold of Scout's shoulder. "I only wanted to talk. Oh well. Scout?"
"What do ya want ya per-" His sentence was suddenly cut off as he let out a squeak of pain as the Spy jabbed something into his neck.
Seconds later, his vision blackened as his mind fell into a sudden, drug induced sleep.
"Scout?"
Scout blinked his eyes open and let out a yelp as he saw the masked form of Spy meaning over him. He was lying down on a bed somewhere, but he couldn't identify where. It was too clean to be either his bed or the infantry bed…
Moments later, the smell of the room hit him and he knew exactly where he was.
"Christ!" He yelled, trying to jump up off the bed, but his head was still swimming from whatever the Spy had injected him with and he only succeeded in getting tangled in the bed covers.
He flailed for a moment like a fish out of water before calming down a little.
"Quite done now?" Spy inquired, inspecting his gloved fingers.
"What the fucking hell have you done to me?!" He yelled, panic making his voice squeak. "Are ya gonna kill me?!"
"Oh hush." He snapped irritatedly. "I only wanted to talk."
Scout tried to say something else, but his voice had risen so high in pitch from fear that all that was audible was a small squeak.
The Spy rolled his eyes and walked over to a chest of drawers located against one of the rooms walls, opening a draw and bringing out a syringe of some yellow fluid that Scout guessed he'd stolen from Medic.
He walked over with the hypodermic and grabbed one of Scout's flailing arms and jabbed him with it, extracting a scream of pain from the terrified runner.
For about half a minute, the Scout was gripped in a fear unrivaled by anything that even the Pyro could produce as he feared for his own survival.
And then slowly, Scout found himself calming down as the concoction of chemicals finally reached his brain, making his mind calm down independent of his own will.
"What...the...fucking...hell...was...that?" He panted, finally able to speak again.
"Just a mélange zhat has served me well in my past... occupation." He smiled. "Did you think that your fire-breathing ami was the only chemist in thiz team hmm?"
"Chemist?" Scout echoed, confused by his statement.
"Oui. Zhe science has its uses. For example, take zhat serum you are under the effect of. Very useful for calming down hostages and loosening tongues. But zhat is not what I brought you here to talk about."
"Then what the fucking hell did ya bring me here ta talk about?"
"Tsk tsk, and I thought your mère brought you up with more manners."
"Leave my ma' outta this ya creep!"
"Is zhat any way to talk to someone who is trying to help you?"
"Help me?! What the fucking hell are ya doing to help me?! I mean, first that thing in the van an' now this?"
"I am helping Scout. When was the last time you talked to someone about your brother, hrmmm? Josef may not be a psychologist, but I, on the other hand, am quite versed in zhe art of zhe mind." He took Scout's chin in one hand and pushed it up so that their identical blue-grey eyes met. "Look at yourself Nathaniel. Look at yourself and tell me that you are fine. I know I am not him and that I cannot fix what he did, but I can at least try." He sighed. "I know I speak for both myself and your father when I say I only have one regret."
"That ya had me...well us?" Scout blurted out. "You two that perfectly clear when ya laid eyes on us."
"No." The Frenchman's voice lowered to a whisper. "That we didn't stay."
Scout was silent for a moment, absolutely unsure of what to do. He honestly had no idea whether he should believe the man or assume that this was just another thread in his intricate web of lies.
He looked into the man's eyes in the desperate hope that he could find some indication of his true motives within them.
But all he saw were the steel blue eyes that despite all his denials and proclamations, were a mirror image of his own — an undeniable truth about his heritage.
"Oh god…" Scout whispered, his unable to make up his mind about what to think.
The Spy withdrew his hand from the Bostonian's chin, his eye contact not wavering from the Scout's for a single moment.
But as he did so, Scout caught sight of something.
He could see for a moment, the linen cuff of his shirt just above where his concealed blade hid. It was stained a deep, rust red flaked with tiny pricks of gold.
Or rather, pinprick flakes of Australium from what he knew was the Sniper's blood.
Scout stared at the blood stained cuff as his mind kicked into overdrive. What was he thinking? He couldn't trust this man. He was a sociopath, not a man looking to make amends with his son's double. He looked back up at the Frenchman, horror slowly creeping over his face. All he could see now on that balaclava clad face was the self-satisfied smirk he had worn when he had plunged his blade into the base of the Medic's neck.
He edged backwards from him, words catching in his throat as a fear that not even whatever drugs the man had injected him with could keep down rose up from within him.
The Frenchman, realising his mistake, quickly backed away, a hand going to the watch on his wrist as he activated it. He gave the Scout one last look of sadness before he disappeared in a puff of reddish smoke.
The Scout sat on Spy's bed for a long, few minutes, his mind too shattered to think clearly. He wasn't confused, but more unable to think clearly about what he'd seen. Maybe the Spy's drug's were having an effect on him, or perhaps it was something else, but he couldn't think clearly at all.
The door slammed open and a blue figure ran in, blinking neon sign at the ready, but Scout was too paralysed by his own thoughts to notice or care about the Pyro.
"Scmrph?"
Scout finally looked up at the muffled mention of his name. He had no idea what to say.
He didn't resist as the thing gently took him by the shoulder and helped him off the bed. He tried to stand, but whatever the Spy had given him was affecting his balance and he instantly collapsed to the ground as the world suddenly tilted on its side.
The thing bent down to him and offered a hand to help him up. He considered the gloved hand, his mind running through all the things it had done and all the pain it has caused him.
But then his mind went back to the murders of an hour ago. After all he had done, was it really fair to call this person a monster when all it has been doing was protecting the team?
And then he took the Pyro's hand.
changelog 23-6-16
+ added chapter
/ well...I won't lie. I'm proud of this. I really am. I can only hope my writing is as good as I think it is.