He was back in Medic's office.
Again.
The doctor sat at his desk, the blood stained form of Archimedes on his shoulder as he sat bent over his work. Next to him lay a vial of Scout's blood, which he had extracted earlier with an awful lot of screaming on the part of the runner.
"Doc, I'm fine." He iterated for the fifth time that day. "An' I've been since yesterday. Can I just go now? The freaking match starts in a bit and there's no way I'm missin' another battle."
The Medic turned his head to look at the Scout and sighed. He still had no idea what their Spy had done to the Scout. Despite all his knowledge and proclamations, his area of expertise was physiology, not pharmacy, which left him utterly lost in the tables of results and chemical formulæ before him.
The fact that Scout wouldn't shut up didn't help matters.
He glanced to his watch and let out an annoyed sigh. There was only twenty minutes left until the next match started and he knew he had to make a decision soon about whether or not Scout was fit to fight.
Shutting the book before him, he got up and picked up his lab coat from the back of his chair.
"Scout, you are dismissed. Vi vill expect you in the briefing room in tventy minutes."
"Alright! Thanks doc!" Scout grinned and bounced off the examination table and ran out of the room, pausing only to grab his hat, bag and headset from the hatstand by the door.
Medic sighed. putting on his coat, he then picked up his medigun's pack from where it lay on the desk. Letting Scout go and declaring him fit for battle was a bit of a risk, he knew, but a necessary one. Despite the (very vocal) assurances from the rest of the team, he knew that they would suffer without the abilities of the Scout and they had already lost four matches this week - another loss would mean another pay cut and he was not willing to let that happen. And anyways, keeping him off the field would require him to admit to the Sdministrator that he didn't know quite as much as he claimed to. And while he was fine saying that to her (it wasn't like they couldn't replace him – where else were they going to find another medic with his skills, his enthusiasm and his medigun?), information like that had a habit of leaking out to the rest of the team, thanks to a certain, over-zealous frenchman.
And while the Administrator wouldn't replace him for incompetence, he couldn't say the same about the rest of the team…
He shook his head. They wouldn't do that. They were loyal to him, weren't they?
Were they?
Would they be loyal to him if Spy carried out what he had threatened earlier? Damn that man and his information. He knew too much. He knew too much not just about his practices and past, but too much about how to to manipulate and twist the truth.
To be entirely honest, he didn't understand why the Administrator had chosen that particular man to be their Spy. He always seemed to be on the verge of defecting or dropping out of existence. It seemed like more effort than it was worth to keep the man in line and check when she could just as easily stick a knife in his back and hire someone more trustworthy.
"Yo, doc? Ya alright?"
The Medic was shaken out of his thoughts as Scout stuck his head around the door.
"Scout?" the German asked, confused. "Vhat are you doing here?"
"Ya kinda seemed...silent. I mean, ya would usually be outta here like a rocket with that murderous grin of yours on ya face and ya saw in hand. Not in 'ere still."
"I vas...thinking."
"'Bout what? 'Cause if its ya philosophy, ya can forget I even asked. 'Eard enough about old greek dudes to last me a lifetime."
"Nein. About Spy."
"Oh, about that goddamn son of a bitch? Seriously, what is there to think about 'im? He's a fucking sociopathic backstabber that should be killed for reals." The american spat vehemently. "I mean, I dont give a fucking shit if he's bangin' my ma', he can go die in a fucking ditch already. I mean, do ya know what he brang me into 'is room for? He wanted to 'help'. He wanted to be my dad. Well, fuck you pal, but I ain't givin' you any chances, even if ya my best pal's dad, not mine. I mean, I gave ya your last fucking chance ten years ago at that baseball game an' ya fucking blew it. Ya might think ya have a hard time, with you two being on opposite sides of the old war an' all, but try having that bastard as ya mom's lover."
"That's vhat he brought you in for?"
"Yeah. Can ya fucking belive the guy? I mean, ya go an' murder two of my teammates right in front of me an' then tell me ya wanna help me? I mean, fuck it dude, I ain't the one who needs help, ya screwed up fag. Hell, with how fucking messed up ya are, I'd rather have Pyro as my freaking dad, not you. At least she ain't gonna backstab me on fucking purpose and grin about. Though, he'd kinda flame me and grin about it, but at least she's fucking delusional!" The Scout paused and took a deep breath.
"Christ...I started ranting like Sol, didn't I? Man, I'm sorry pal."
"Don't be." The Medic grinned. "It is nice to know I am not the only one who detests that sveinhold. At least, for reasons that haff nothing to do with this game they call a var." He snorted. "Vi are fools to call this battle even. There is nothing to lose here, no lives at risk and no true goal. Vhatever purpose this little charade might of had vas lost years ago. But that is not my point."
"Then what is it pal? Why does he hate you? Did you two meet in the war an' have an epic battle? 'Cause that would be awesome."
"Nein, unfortunately. He hates me for vhat my country did, vhich vas understandable at first. But even after years of stressing my affiliations, he still holds it against me." The German ground his teeth in frustration. "He has all the information he needs to twist this team against me – all he is waiting for is the perfect moment – the moment vhere this team and it's fate does not concern him any longer." He sighed. "All he needs is one comment to the right person and...and I vill just be another death in this 'war'. A death that I do not think vill come from the Administrator."
"Yeesh...that's kinda harsh…" Scout let out a low whistle. "...but doncha have friends here? Y'know, what about Heavy and Sol?"
"They vould be the first people to turn against me." he snorted. "Soldier's mind vould explode if he ever found out. And Heavy…" He sighed. "I dont know vhat he vould do."
"Seriously? I mean, I ain't like Py' with his obsession with friendship an' magic an' ponies an' all that shit, but the guy's your best pal! Ya really think he's gonna turn on ya 'cause ya ended up on the wrong side of a war?"
"You vouldn't understand."
"Dude, why not?"
"You veren't there."
"Oh." there was a silence as scout looked around for something to say. "Well...if that ever does 'appen...I'll be here." He grinned at the Medic. "You ain't the only guy 'ere who hates 'im ya know. And seriously dude, ya underestimate who the freaking hell I am. Ya underestimate who we are. We're a freaking team, an' dick or not, Spy ain't gonna be able to break us apart anytime soon. Ya gotta take a leap of faith and realise this team ain't leave ya behind any time soon doc. It ain't gonna leave any of us behind. An' you're right. This is a game an' it's always been one. And that's a good thing – this war was never meant to be taken seriously. This aint a war where soldiers die an' people get killed for being different. This is a war where I use a freaking fish as a bat an' Snipes chucks his piss at everyone. Just 'cause one guy decides ta try an' change all that ain't mean we gotta listen to him."
"But vhat about you?"
"What about me pal?"
"Vhat you said may be true, but it does not help you."
'Well…" Scout's grin disappeared. "I'll be fine. I just gotta take it all in stride. Can't let it affect me. Ya gotta be ready to get out there an' hit the ground running even if it hurts, y'know? Can't stop an' pause for thought in this game." He grinned again, but this time, it seemed to carry less of his trademark enthusiasm and arrogance.
"Come on. We should get ready to go. We got a battle to win an' that RED team ain't gonna beat their own heads in."
Changelog 27-6-16
+ Added chapter
/ sorry this took a while, but this was a quite hard one. went through countless rewrites and countless restarts. the very original actually involved unmasked!pyro, but that was scrapped 'cause it kinda felt...wrong. next chapter shall actually involve the other plot, so hooray!
/ also, its so short 'cause I didn't really have anything else to add to it without repeating. I promise the next one shall be longer. much longer.