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"Fall in SOLDIERS!" The Soldier yelled as he marched into the BLU base. "We have THIRTY MINUTES until battle and I want you to report to me READY for duty IN FIVE! That means MILITARY GRADE hats PYROTECHNICIAN!"
The Pyro (who had been poking Heavy with one of its colourful pony plushies) too one look at the man and then turned back to its poking. It was wearing a large, cyan coloured wig and it wasn't going to take off its new hat just because some delusional soldier said so.
"Yeesh. Some people." Scout let out a snort as the Soldier glared at him and went back to examining his hangnail. "I mean pal, you're one to talk. Can ya even see with that helmet o' yours on?"
"Are you ANSWERING BACK to me PRIVATE?!" The man marched over to where Scout was slouched against the resupply locker.
"Not anymore Sol." Scout grinned and ducked underneath the Soldier's arm as the man made a grab for his dog tags in an effort to restrain him.
Quickly maneuvering himself out of the Soldier's grasp, Scout did a quick check of the room before making his way to the building's exit. After seeing that everyone was present, he left the cool, blue interior of their base into the hot midday sun of the map. Thirty minutes was more than enough time for a quick lap or ten around the base, especially as he wasn't planning on 'reporting' to Soldier.
Technically, no one was meant to be outside of the base area until the match started and there was a gate in place to enforce that rule, but that wasn't going to stop him. It had never stopped him before after all.
Ignoring the two tunnels on either side of the clearing in front of the base, he walked over to the rock face in the middle. Using the pile of wood as a starting point, he grabbed ahold of the rock and began to quickly scale the vertical wall of rock.
While to any other class, such a feat would've been impossible (hence why there was nothing stopping him from taking that route), it was relatively easy for the runner. Despite his rather unhealthy diet of soda and fried foodstuffs, one didn't spend years in an occupation where running was crucial without managing to maintain a (relatively) healthy physique.
Pulling himself up over the edge of the rock face, Scout found himself looking out over the battlefield, the primary point to his left and the secondary one to his right, with the final and tertiary one directly in front of him.
Adjusting the brim of his hat so that it shaded more of his face from the midday sun, he looked out over the map and smiled.
Then again, why did he need to go for a jog? It wasn't like anyone was watching. Not even the Administrator had eyes up here.
Setting his bag down on the uneven rocks, he sat down and dug out a comic book and a purple can of soda.
Opening the comic, he settled down and began to read.
Scout (BLU) has joined team SPECTATORS
Match 1 of 6.24.74 begins in three minutes gentlemen!
"Christ!" Scout shouted as the administrator's voice suddenly sounded in his left ear, dragging out of his trance. He hadn't meant to spend this long away from the team.
Putting the comic and his (now empty) can down, Scout walked over to the edge where he had come to get up here. Maybe if he was stealthy enough, he could sneak back into the base and pretend he'd gotten stuck in the bathroom or something…
"ATTENTION MAGGOTS!"
Ok, maybe not…
Jerking his head away from the cliff edge before the Soldier could see him, Scout reconsidered his plan. He was not going down if Soilder was there. He had better things to do with his time than be forced to listen to the delusional rants of that madman.
Walking back to where he had deposited his bag and comic, Scout sat back down. He was left with two options. Wait until the match had started and slip back into the battle, or spend the rest of the match up here.
Opening his bag and bringing out yet another can of soda, he settled back down. Contemplating the can, he smiled. Why did he need to bother with fighting anyway? This was a low priority mission and anyways, it wasn't like anyone was going to miss him on the field if the team's constant complaints were anything to go on.
Three minutes later, an air raid siren sounded and then the field below erupted into the bloody entropy that the gravel wars were best known for.
Opening the can of purple drink, Scout watched the battle bellow with interest as the two teams battled each other over the primary point.
From up here, the scene almost looked like something from a video game and – Scout thought as the corpse of a RED Sniper flew over the rock divide, nearly hitting him – a rather over-the-top one at that.
"Man, some people." he grinned, turning to where the corpse of Sniper had fallen. "Who gotcha? Sol? Demo?"
The Sniper, (of course) didn't say anything. He was dead.
"Christ," Scout said, looking over the edge where he could see their demoman sneaking a drink from his...frypan. "We are crazy. But hey, I ain't complainin'."
"I know right? Hey, wanna give me a hand here Nate?"
The Scout spun around to see the other Scout's head poking over the cliff as he tried to pull himself up onto the plateau the BLU Scout was on.
"Rick!" Nate grinned and grabbed ahold of the enemy Scout's hand and pulled him up. "What the freaking hell are ya doing up here! And how did you find me?"
"Well, I kinda thought I'd escape that clusterfuck and join you up here." He pointed over his shoulder at the battle below. "I ain't much for defendin', so they ain't gonna miss me. An' I kinda saw ya climbing up here in setup. Hey, is that the new Avengers?" he pointed at the comic next to the Scout's bag.
'Yeah, it is."
"Neat! Wanna trade? I got Batman."
"Sure! Just dont tell Soilder 'bout this. Man, he'd be so freaking mad if he saw us not killing each other…"
"Sure thing pal! My lips are sealed if yours are too."
"Hey, ya aint gotta worry 'bout me."
"How do I know? Ya could be a Spy."
"Would a Spy be drinking this?" He pointed to his soda.
"Nah. he'd be all 'that stuff is bad for your health' an' shit. Well, 'cuse me pal, but ya don't look like the freaking medic, do ya? Seriously pal, a bit o' sugar and radiation never hurt anyone, right?"
"Heh...wish that was all 'e did."
The red coloured Scout groaned.
"Our Spy been buggin' you again pal? I thought I freaking told 'im..."
"Nah, not your bastard. Mine."
"Seriously? Man, this I gotta hear." He pulled out a yellow can from his pocket and sat down, opening it. "What's that guy done now?"
"Ok, so first, you remember the thing at Sawmill? An' how we didn't end up fighting?"
"'course I do."
"Well, after that, he kinda went all weird and serious and went an' kinda killed our own freaking Sniper."
"Seriously? I mean, this was back when you were in ya base?" The BLU scout nodded. "Wow...man, what the freaking hell did Sniper do ta piss him off that much?"
"Well, Spy was kinda saying that Sniper was behind the entire thing at sawmill. Something about some laboratory and shit about that guy who said he'd make exploding lemons and sniper's girlfriend…"
"Wait, wait, Sniper's girlfriend? We talkin' about the same dude here? As in, the guy who lives in a campervan and chucks his own piss at us?"
"Yup. Same guy."
"As in the guy we saw doing...y'know...stuff with Spy?" The RED Scout's face turned as red as his shirt as he mentioned that...incident.
"Yeah...that one."
"So, uh...what happened next?" He quickly added, desperate to get of the topic.
"Well after that, Medic tried to go in and do his entire healing thing with Snipes, but then Spy killed 'im too."
"I don't get it. How is this related to what he did to you. Did he kill you too?"
"Nah. Just thought I'd give some 'background info' like Hardhat keeps on telling me."
"Oh yeah...can ya skip it though? I ain't Hardhat."
"Alright. So, shit happened, I went to respawn ta see if Doc and Snipes were alright and then boom! He drags me into his fucking room!"
"Wait, WHAT?!" the Scout exclaimed, waving his arms so hard he nearly fell over. "But you're...he's...wait, Spy has a fucking room?"
Nathaniel stared at the other Scout for a few dumbfounded seconds before finally getting what he meant.
"Aw christ, ya fucking pervert!" He gave the enemy Scout a joking shove. "Did ya seriously thought I meant it like that?"
"Could'a fooled me." He grinned. "So, if he didn't do that, what did he do?"
"Well, turns out he wanted to talk. 'bout me." The Scout retelling the story swallowed. "He wanted to be my dad."
There was a silence as the RED Scout slowly shook his head.
"Wow... seriously dude? Man...I can't believe that guy. I mean...after what he did? He didn't even consider that I…" he trailed off, not quite sure what to say.
"You alright Rick?"
"Yeah, yeah...Nate, can ya do me a favour?"
"Sure...what?"
"Next time ya see that son of a bitch, can ya remind him that I'm still here?"
"Sure."
"Nate, I'm serious about this." He grabbed ahold of the blue Scout's shoulder. "That man is one of the sickest men I have ever had the bad luck to meet. Do. Not. Do. Anything. To. Encourage. Him. He ain't gonna do whatever he says he's gonna do. He left me an' my ma' when we needed 'im the most an' he's just gonna do the same to you. I'm serious here. Dead serious. Don't believe a single fucking thing that man says. You got that?"
"Whoa man...ya can chill. I ain't gonna do that."
The RED Scout held his gaze for a moment longer before relaxing and letting go of the other runner.
"Sorry pal, I'm just...Christ, I don't know. I just can't fucking believe that bastard would do that when I'm still here. Man, that is low."
"Yeah...I guess." The two directed their attention back down to the map below them. The BLU team had managed to get ahold of the first two points and were now battling for the final tower.
"Hey Nate," Frederick finally said, breaking the silence. "Ya know who that is?"
"Know who?"
"The orange dude over there." He repeated, pointing at the RED base. Behind the chain link fence that separated the map with the rest of the base was a black and orange figure, who was slinking around underneath the old wooden alcoves of the base.
"Nah pal. Who'dya think I am? Snipes? I can't see that freaking far, even if I knew who it was."
"Yeesh, I just asked. What'dya suppose he's doing?"
"Dunno. Maintenance I guess? I mean, ain't there where ya power thingy is…wait a sec! Ya dont think…"
The two scouts stared at each other for a second, the same thought going through both of their minds.
"Well, come on!" the RED Scout yelled, grabbing his bag and the other Scout as he jumped up. "We cant just sit here an'..."
His sentence was suddenly cut off as he fell over, his body going limp as if he'd just died.
'What the–" the other, still standing Scout began to say, but his curse was cut off as he was suddenly aware of a strange buzzing in his left ear, like if his headset was picking up interference.
Which was weird because that had never happened before.
"Hey Nate! I'm alright pal! Ya don't need ta...Nate? Ya alrig–"
And then suddenly, there was the limbo of respawn.
Changelog 30-6-16
+ added chapter
/ so...another shortish chapter. my bad, but the next chapter is going to be very action heavy (heh heh) and adding it here would've stretched it out to about 3K words. and also, I like cliffhangers.
/ speaking of diversions... *grabs snipes and spy* WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING?! DON'T YOU SEE THAT TAG UP THERE?! *points to 'no romance' tag*. so yeah...not sure why I did that, but it's kinda funny. maybe. I don't know. gives scoots something else to blackmail snipes with.