The pavilion was thankfully clear when they stepped back out into it. The Pyro ran ahead a bit, letting out a gleeful laugh as a ball of flame at the pile of ice that had blocked the doors with the funeral home sign, and the ice melted with surprising speed into little more than a large puddle on the floor.
"Well, we might as well. Could be something useful." The Demoman shrugged, following after.
A curse from behind the doors had the group hurrying, and it was the Scout who was the first to realize why the Scotsman had cursed as he stepped into a thick stream of water pouring from an open pipe just inside the doorway.
The sound of faint crying drew their attention Peering through a broken section of wall revealed a woman leaning over an empty casket on a stand, sobbing. Apparently too deep in her own grief to have noticed the loud expletives or heavy footsteps of the group.
With a shrug the Heavy held a finger up for quiet and the Doctor led the way across the room to the door behind the receptionist desk. So long as the woman didn't take notice or attack, there wasn't much need to waste time or attention upon her.
"Ach, Don't like the look of this." The Demoman said as they stepped into the room, eying the half rotted corpse left laying out on one of the tables in the small, dank room.
Water filled the left most section of the room where the floor was set lower with a few small stairs, an almost welcome change compared to the copious amounts of blood they had stepped in between the two rooms, even if it went halfway up most of the men's calves.
A shadow moving on the wall, projected from a man somewhere out of sight a little farther in caught their attention, and they slowed their steps.
They were plunged into darkness for a moment as the lights went out.
The mans shadow was gone, when they gave a few struggling flickers before they turned back on, albeit weakly and flickering.
The man was gone.
Where he had, no one could say. Conceivably, there was no where to go. There was merely a mortuary table with what had once been a woman laid out upon it, the skin around her mouth pulled out into a permanently hideous snarl.
"Well, least there's this." Said the Sniper, picking up a handful of revolver rounds from a tool tray in the corner, handing them to Jack, before he picked up the faintly glowing, yellow bottle. "Says Security Expert. How'dyou suppose that even works?"
"How come that ones yellow, an' not red like the ones Engie and Jack took? Scout questioned.
"Maybe cause this ones more mental or somethin? I don't bloody know. Here, I reckon you you eggheads are the ones who might want this." The Sniper said, tossing the bottle to the Engineer.
"Well, I reckon so far there's not been any machine I can't handle. Maybe we'll just save this one away for now." The Engineer said, passing the bottle to Medic, who stored it away in one of the pouches on his belt.
"Well, lets get out of here. This place is creepy." Scout said, turning to step back into the water. Looking up in confusion as the Medic placed a gloved hand on his shoulder. "Oh yes, very good idea." He said, reaching to draw the saw from his belt. Motioning others to grab their own guns as he stood in front of the cabinets where bodies were kept. There was an air of confusion, but the Sniper pulled the machete from his own belt, and with a soft flick the Spy had his own knife out.
They stood in front of the three cabinets, and after a moment of silent counting, they turned the handles and yanked the door open.
The Medic lunged into the cabinet he'd pulled open, and a scream, at first of surprise, and then very quickly pain, bounced off the metal walls inside until it cut off with a wet gurgling sound. When the Medic straightened again, he wiped the bloodied blade of his saw against the side of his coat.
"How'd you know that's where the guy went?" Jack questioned as the Doctor shut the door, as if he hadn't just ambushed and killed a man inside it.
"Simple, the doors are the same configuration on the other side of the wall. Clearly for easy access to the bodies for autopsies or cosmetic touch ups for viewing." The Medic replied, slip ping the Saw back into place on his belt. "No doubt he was waiting for us to leave to pop from the other side and try to kill us. Now we can move on."
They shuffled their way back into the room, shaking their boots of water. The woman was gone now, but she didn't pop out from anywhere they shuffled on. A few curses going up as they were blasted with freezing air from the pipe outside the funeral home door.
In the relative quiet of the room as they gathered near the stairs on either side of the surgery, there was faint, mechanical, yet clownish laughter.
There Soldier grabbed the railing, half hauling himself over it for a moment before he straightened. "Another one vending machine and a lotta ice. And some more words on the wall."
"That doors got his literal name on it. Those signs say dental." The Sniper said.
"Well, if nothing else, we oughta at least go down and fetch a few more of those syringes, now that Pyros spittin' fire too." The Engineer conceded, waving the men along.
It was far colder in the little space below, where a veritable wall of ice blocked the hall way. A recording machine blinking slightly at the bottom of the blockage, covered in a layer of frost. With a shrug the Demoman picked it up, wiping away some of the frost from the machine before he hit the button.
"Steinman, I know Medical Pavilion is your manor, but you might want to cogitate on this: ocean water is colder than a witch's tit." Began a man, a faint trace of an Irish-american accent laced in each syllable. "You don't heat the pipes, the pipes freeze. Pipes freeze, pipes burst. Then Rapture leaks. Now, I realize you're a posh sort of geezer, and, frankly, I don't give a toss if you piss or go fishing. But once Rapture starts leaking, the old girl's never gonna stop. And then I'll be sure to tell Ryan he's got you to thank."
"Some sort of plumber or engineer, no doubt. One with a considerable amount of sway, if he can levy Ryans name as a threat." Spy mused. Stepping away from the wall to let the Pyro closer, who was clearly all too happy to heat the pipes himself.
The Engineer and Medic had already turned their attention to the vending machine when an unfamiliar scream had them looking up, before shrugging and turning their attention back to the blue syringes the machine was dispensing as the Pyro gave a cheer. After a few moments, and with a few handfuls of Syringes stowed away between their pockets, they rejoined the rest of the group at the mouth of the short hallway. "Easy does it, Pyro, or you'll be runnin' on fumes before you know it. Gotta be smart about this." The Engineer said, offering one of the Syringes to the masked mercenary.
"If we're lucky we might find some supplies in there." The Medic said, nodding towards the round sign for a "Kure-All" clinic.
Scout shook his head "Yeah right. Place like that's gotta have been picked clean by now, an' I don't know about you guys, but I don't wanna see what freak show went on in there."
"Oh don't be such a baby." The Doctor teased, though he made no move to go in. Apparently not so keen to go it alone.
Around the corner was it's own gruesome sight.
In the middle of the room laid the body of a woman, pinned to the floor with surgical tools in her shoulder and in her hands. A very large pair of forceps had been jammed into where her eyes had once been. Aside the woman, speckled with dried blood laid a shotgun, and a box of toppled buckshot.
"Looks like she tried to fight back, before she was…" Jack said quietly, bending to pick up the fallen weapon and scoop the ammo back into its box with a disgusted frown.
As he stood straight, the room went dark.
Several pairs of laughs filled the room as one light switched back on, effectively bathing them all in a spot light. A wave of women in dirty coats and dresses descended upon them from the surrounding darkness, brandishing the pipes and tools they clutched in their hands.
The group kept a tight circle, and proved how very unwise it is, to come at people brandishing shotguns and other weapons.
The lights flickered back on proper after another minute, and when it seemed clear there were no more attackers, guns were lowered, though not put away.
"Maybe that one wasn't the docs work." The Sniper muttered, wiping the blood speckled on his Kukri on the leg of his pants before slipping it back into its holster. "Damned Harpies had a trap."
Around the dividing wall was another door, with another body and musing from the dear Dr Steinman nearby.
A glint of light caught the Soldiers attention, and he went over to, stooping to pick it up. Pausing as the automatic doors opened. He pressed the button, waiting just long enough for the others to step closer before he stepped through the doors.
"At the German prison camp, they put me to work on Genetic experiments on other prisoners. They call me "Das Wunderkind", the wonder child." Began a woman on the tape quietly. "Germans, all they can talk about is blue eyes, and shape of forehead. All I care about is why is this one born strong, and that one weak? This one smart, that one stupid? All that killing, you think the Germans could have been interested in something useful?" A few curious and wary glances were passed the doctors way, but he only shrugged. "Well, she's not wrong. Eyes, the shape of face, hair color. Such trivial things. But I suppose that it was for the best they did not focus on more important things, eh?"
The back half of the room was flooded, but off to the side was a glass door, which rattled slightly as it slid up into the wall above as they approached.
A stretch of greenish carpet, reeking of mildew and rot, marked with a small console at the end met them. Generic looking trophies and tennis equipment lined the wall behind. A recorder leaned against the small console, and Jack bent to pick it up. Letting out a shout as the Soldier hit the button on the console, and he narrowly missed being nailed with a tennis ball.
Instead the ball pinged harmlessly off another of the strange vending machines they had seen when they had first learned of plasmids. The machine rattled for a moment, before a bottle and Syringe fell out into its tray.
The Demoman picked it up, turning it around to lead the label inscribed on the cap. "Telekinesis… Well, I suppose if they can make a man shoot fire outta his hands they make ye move things with yer mind. Why the bloody hell no' in a hellhole like this."
Most of the group shuffled towards the side and out of the way of the ball machine as the Soldier, Pyro, and Scout took turned pressing the button and trying to dodge tennis balls, and Jack pressed the button of the recorder.
"Clinical Trial Lot 23 Dr. Suchong/Client Fontaine Futeristics." Began a man. This Dr Suchong. "Work on Telekinesis Plasmid proceeding well. Lifting objects at distance present no problem. Moving objects through space, no problem. Cannot stop speeding bullet, but can catch and throw fast moving object. Problem not with Plasmid. Problem with reaction time… Suchong just get new idea for plasmid."
"So this Suchong fella made the plasmids? You don't think he's runnin' around like a cracked nut too, do you?" Jack said, tossing the recorder aside.
"You don't have to worry about Suchong. He's dead. Has been a while now." Atlas' voice replied through the radio. "Died at the hands of his own creations."
"Well, least we know there's one less crazy running around." The Sniper muttered. "So, I guess now we gotta decide who's gonna take it, if anyone's gonna take the risk."
"Ach, I guess I'll do it." The Demoman said. "Somethin' happens, Doc'll find a way to fix it up, eh? He's done madder feats."
"Quite so." The Doctor preened, taking the bottle and filling the Syringe as the demolitions expert rolled back his sleeve.
There was a sense of oppressive stillness in the little space as the Scotsman clutched at his head for a moment. Before with a heaving breath he shook his head.
"Bloody hell, that's got a kick, doesn't it." He said, rubbing at his brow. "…How the hell do ye tell if it worked?"
"Well, the guy in the recording said he was havin' guys catch tennis balls, right? Try catchin' one of em?" Scout suggest.
"Aye, fair enough. Oi, quite messin' about for a second, wouldye." Demoman said, waving for the trio to stop as he stepped into the path of the ball machine. "Alright, now!"
The machine let out a puff of air as it spit out a ball, and the Demoman threw up his hand with a grimace, until the ball stopped dead in its path, hovering in the air. "Hah! Alright, I admit, that is a wee bit impressive. Now…. How do I-" His questioned died on his lips as he gave a twitch of his hand, and the ball shot back the way it had come, bouncing off one wall to the next. And the Soldier let out a grunt at it finally found it's home against his helmet.
"Ah, 'm sorry about that, Jane." The Demoman said apologetically, but the man merely grinned, slapping his hand on his back. "Now that's some brain magic!"
A pair of splicers barreled into the room as they filed out of the little training space, and from the floor nearby a large metal cylinder lifted from the floor and into the air. Marked, they could see as it hovered closer, marked as flammable.
The explosion was fairly small, as it hit the wall behind the pair, but effective. If either thought to throw themselves into the water to douse the flames, they didn't move to do so.
They were stepped carefully around as the flames died down enough to be passable. No one keen to linger in the stench of burning hair and skin.
"We should probably get a move on back upstairs and get to workin' on getting Dr Steinman to fork over the key." The Engineer said.
The way back to the stairs was, while not peaceful, was quiet. With no sign of more mutated citizens, the way back up was a breath of fresh air.
Well, as fresh as recycled air pumping the stench of mildew and decay can be.
The door marked for "Dr Steinmans Aesthetic Ideals" Led into a tunnel of glass panels.
Deeper down the tunnel was a small circular space, and a tv flickered to a cartoon image of a man, and Dr Steinmans voice crackled through.
"With genetic modifications, beauty is no longer a goal, or even a virtue." Began the Doctor, but no one heard. All attention was on the neighboring tunnel. On the Big Daddy lumbering after the skipping figure of a Little Sister.
Heads were shaken as the continued on towards the door on the far end of the tunnel. Guns and weapons raised as they neared.
They were dealing with a madman. Who knew what would greet them when it opened?
Two more hodge-podge posters had been hung up. Large, scrawled words declaring aesthetics to be a moral imperative.
They walked slowly as faint muttering came from around the wall. And a man knelt on the floor leapt to his feet and ran through a tunnel, setting off an explosion behind him that brought down pieces of the tunnel walls and signs above it. Blocking their way.
The radio fizzed, and Atlas spoke, "You'll have to find some way to get to surgery… and Steinman. Chins up now. The Lord hates quitters."
"Well, I could probably clear some of that out with some of me bombs." The demoman said. "We can probably just haul off whatever's left, if there's anything.
It was only a few seconds later that the man who had collapsed the tunnel appeared from the balcony above, and men scattered as he chucked what all but one man new on an instinct as a bomb. Lobbing more of them down around the men.
"I can hear that splicer soundin' off like the Fourth of July!" Atlas shouted from the radio.
The Demoman stopped his hand squeezing the air, stopping one in its path. He flung his arm, sending the homemade explosive towards the debris blocking their path, watching with satisfaction as pieces of wall and sings scattered everywhere. Seeing the opening, the others ran for the cleared path as he grabbed another from the air, sending it back towards the crazed man before he ran after the group, grinning at the shout and another round of explosions came from the balcony.
Inside the door was was an unnerving sight. The body of a woman had been propped into a wheel chair, one eye permanently open and watching. A recorder hung from the wall beside her. Hesitantly Scout leaned around the woman, pressing the button.
"Today I had lunch with the Goddess. 'Steinman' She said… "I'm here to free you from the tyranny of the commonplace. I'm here to show you a new kind of beauty.' I asked her 'What do you mean, Goddess?' 'Symmetry, dear Steinman. It's time we did something about Symmetry."
"My, he really has given into those hallucinations of his, hasn't he." The Medic murmured, earning several sharp looks from others. In turn he only shrugged. "Ah, yes. I recalled why his named seemed familiar. I believe I met him- goodness that was years ago now. He spoke of having visions of a Greek goddess… I cannot recall which one, but that does not matter. Cocaine fueled delusions, all of it. The Greek gods are myths, nothing more."
A few more corpses greeted them on their way down the hall, until a gate blocked their way.
A man appeared on the other side, and with him, a machine similar to the one the Engineer had fixed up in the Emergency Access.
He pointed towards the group, and the machine faithfully turned their direction.
He ran as the Soldier shot at the thing, and the Heavy ripped open the gate. Another sentry was at the far end of the hall, but with his new skill and his own bombs, it was easy work for the Demoman.
Wherever the man went, they didn't see. But he did not appear again as they walked down the hall. Shrugging when it came to the choice of two doors both marked "Viewing Rooms"
The sound of a woman's sobs met them as they crept down the short steps and into the room. Through a large glass window, a man stood over a woman strapped down to a table.
"What can I do with this one, Aphrodite? She WONT. STAY. STILL." The Man, Dr Steinman, judging by his voice, punctuated each word with a cruel stab. "I want to make them beautiful, but they always turn out wrong!" The woman let out a gurgling sound, before she stilled and went silent. "That one… too fat! This one… too tall! This one… too symmetrical!" If he realized the woman was dead, it didn't stop his insane mutilation.
But as they hesitantly stepped closer to the window, he looked up. "And now, what's this, Goddess? Intruders! Their ugly!" He bent down, picking up a gun from the floor in front of the surgical table. "Ugly ugly UGLY!" He shrieked, a spray of bullets shattering the glass and sending men leaping out of the way.
"Put the mongrel down!" The Sniper shouted, and on either side of the room, they charged.
From both sides, the Doctor stood little chance, but not without doing his own damage before he fell to the floor. And the Scout was left leaning against the wall, holding his shoulder with a grimace as the Medic crouched down to rifle through Steinmans coat. Pulling out a handfuls of ammunition and a key.
"You boys alright?" Altas' asked just as the doctor stood, pulling out one of the medical kits they had found and stowed away.
Only a little surprise flickering across his face as he pulled out a red filled syringe. Scout, however, drew away. "Hey hey, what is that."
"Judging from the packaging, some sort of healing fluid." The Medic replied, his free hand showing the boy the little white tin and the red cross painted on it as the other swiftly plunged the syringe into his bicep.
A guess that proved right, as a faint glow spread over the wounds, and after a few slow seconds a pair of bullets came popping out of his shoulder. "Impressive, but I can see where it could be improved." The Medic said, tossing the empty syringe aside.
"I think we're all alright. Jeremy got shot, but the doc fixed him up, I think. Just a few scrapes and bruises all around, I think." Jack replied as he fished the radio from his pocket.
"It was time somebody took care of that sick bastard. Get on your way back to Emergency Access. I'm makin' me way to the backside of Port Neptune meself. We'll get there soon enough."
The way back from the operating room was thankfully quiet. But as they neared the door, the foyer shook and dust fell from the ceiling.
"Sounds like another tunnel collapse." Crackled Atlas as they stepped back into the tunnel they'd come through, welcomed by another tremor. "Welcome to Rapture. The worlds fastest growin' pile of junk."
The sounds of struggling and shouting came from further into the tunnel, through the now open door they had passed by on their way to surgery.
With a tremendous sound, the figure of a Big Daddy came crashing through a wall, body engulfed in flames as it came to a crashing stop along the wall closest to them. A small shadow appeared through the broken wall when the giant thing failed to make so much of a twist. There was the faint glimpse of a childish face before unnatural eyes locked on to the group, going wide with fright before she turned and fled.
"It's a little one. Now's your chance to get some Adam."
"If nothin' else, we oughta see if the girls alright." Said the Engineer as he stepped into the room, giving the light sprays of water the cracks the metal suits impact had caused a wide berth.
The door opened into a wide, rectangular room. A door directly across set beneath two half circle shaped balconies.
The Little Sister was sniffling back tears as she took slow, backwards steps as a man in a rabbit shaped masked and a horribly dirt coat pushed her back with the end of a wrench. "It's just you and me, and all the tasty ADAM I can drink." The man crooned.
The girl let out a shriek as the man raised the wrench, his intent to use it as a bludgeon all too clear.
The girl tripped, but she never hit the floor, and the mans swing never hit.
Blood splattered the side of the Heavys head as a shot rang out. The man crumpling to the floor, wrench clanging as it landed.
But the shot had not come from any of the men.
On the balcony was a woman in a pink dress, her face a scowl as she leveled the barrel of her gun at the weapons expert. "Unhand her, or it will be you who's shot next!"
"What, so you can bash her in like that freak was gonna?" The Scout shouted back, before the radio fizzed and Atlas' voice rang out.
"Easy now, Doctor… their just lookin' for a wee bit of ADAM, just enough to get by."
"I'll not have them hurt my Little Ones!" The woman spat as the girl squirmed in the Russians hold.
"It's okay, lads. That's not a child, not anymore it ain't. Dr Tenenbuam saw to that."
"Bitte, do not hurt her! Have you no heart?" The woman replied, a desperate, pleading edge in her voice.
"Aye, that's a pretty sermon coming from the ghoul who cooked up them creatures in the first place." Atlas said, his own voice in turn cold and harsh. "Took fine little girls and turned them into that, didn't you? Listen to me, boys; you won't survive without the ADAM those… things… are carrying. Are you prepared to trade your lives, the lives of my wife and child for Tenenbaums little Frankensteins?"
With a small cry the little girl managed to slip out from the Heavys arms, her bare feet slapping against the floor as she scurried away, cowering in the far corner.
"There's another way!" The woman cried. "Here! Use this! Free them from their torment… I will make it worth your while… somehow." She threw a familiar red bottle from the balcony, and the Heavy managed to catch it easily in his massive hand.
"This will… help little girl?" He questioned, giving the bottle a dubious look.
"Yes, yes, I swear it. Please," In a show of good faith the woman lowered her gun. He stared up at her a moment, before he looked back towards his team. "Alright. Then I will do this." He twisted off the cap before he turned, holding out the bottle to the Medic. The pair sharing a nod before the Medic swiftly injected the contents into the Heavys wrist.
Others blocked the door, in case the girl made to run again. But it wasn't needed. The girl merely scrambled back on the floor until her back hit a dresser. Her glowing eyes peeking out fearfully from behind her pale arms over her head.
"No!" She swatted at his hands as Heavy knelt down and slowly reached for her and picked the girl up. Her small voice just as unnatural as the rest of her.
He looked up towards the balcony, watching a moment before he raised his hand in the same way the woman had done. The veins under the skin of his hand glowing a bright white as he carefully pressed his hand to her forehead. The same bright light spread throughout the girls little body, growing brighter and brighter, until they could see nothing but a blinding ball of light, forcing all but the Pyro, The Sniper, who had hastily pulled glasses from the pocket of his vest and slipped them on, and the Engineer, who had slipped his goggles back over his eyes when the glow had first begun to get brighter to look away.
When the glow faded, the Heavy gently set the girl down on her feet, and she took a step back, brushing dust from the skirt of her dress. Her skin was no longer the deathly pallor it had been, and her eyes, a bright green, looked up at the giant of a man with a small, nervous bow and a quiet thank you.
"The path of the righteous is not always easy, yes?" It was the womans voice that filtered through the radio now. The woman apparently having slipped away during the easy distraction the girl had been. "The reward will become clear in time… be patient. If more of you are willing to be their saviors, I will find ways to send more." The girl darted out from around the Heavy, scampering up to the strange hole in the wall. The same sort of oddly decorated spot they had seen often around the city, and what Scout had claimed to see something in back in the restaurant. She climbed up into the hole, giving one last look back before she vanished within.
"Tenenbaum's playing you for right saps." Atlas said, "Those things may look like wee little girls, but looks don't make it so. You'll need all the ADAM you can get to survive."
"We will not be hurting little children." The Heavy rumbled.
"Yeah, if doing what that guy was gonna do to her is how you play the game here, count me out." Jack said, shaking his head.
"I'd say we've done pretty well for ourselves without this ADAM." Said the Spy. "We are Mercenaries, we can get along fine without it, if we must. That… Little Sister, looked human enough, when our large friend was through with her."
"You're only hurting your chances, and my family's chances, to survive by being so foolish. But I can hear it in your voice I ain't gonna convince you."
The door below the balconies, it turned out, led through to the door that they had not tried to go through before, at the start of the hall near the spot they had been ambushed from.
"Well, least we won't get soaked going back through that broken sea tunnel." The Sniper shrugged.
It was almost eerily quiet when they made their way back into the lounge, until they froze at the sound of slow, lumbering footsteps.
Around the corner that led to the door of the lobby of the Medical Pavilion came the eerie form of another Big Daddy, a Little Sister skipping beside him cheerily. The pair seemed to take little note of the group as the girl flitted between corpses with her eerie needle apparatus.
"Should we… do something?" asked the Scout, shifting nervously on his feet.
"Well, if we can… cure her, I reckon its the right thing to do." The Engineer replied.
"I will get the girl, you men distract the creature." The Spy said, hand on the dial of his watch. Satisfied with the round of nods his plan was met with, he vanished.
The girl seemed none the wiser, happily jabbing the end of her needle into the stomach of a splicer they had killed earlier, though they knew every second brought the Spy closer to the child.
She let out an ear splitting shriek as the girl seemed to float off the ground. The effect on the Big Daddy was instant. The instant the scream began to leave the girls lips it whirled around with surprising speed, the drill of its arm already spinning, the holes in the helmet reminiscent of spiders eyes glowing a deep, furious red. Yet it faltered for a moment, its faceless visage somehow managing to portray confusion.
That was, until Jacks shotgun went off with a crack and added a smattering of dents into the creatures armored suit.
That was all it needed to channel its righteous fury at its charges distress.
Jack threw himself to the side as the thing charged, swinging its massive metal fist.
As the Engineer unloaded his own shot into the Daddy the Medic waved the Heavy away, motioning towards the Spy and the struggling girl.
With some reluctance he tore away from the fight as the Soldier was knocked off his feet into the wall with a swipe of the creatures drill.
He hurried over to the where the girl seemed to float and the Spy flickered back into sight. The Spy did his best to keep the child still has the Heavy brought his hand to the girls forehead. The Big Daddy let out a roar of anger at the sight of not one but two men surrounding the Little Sister, but there was no chance for it to charge as it seized as a bolt of lightning struck it.
As soon as the glow began to fade the Spy set the girl down, ushering her towards the nearest odd vent like the other had climbed through as the Heavy ran back to the thick of the fight.
It was the Scouts shot that finally felled the thing. In a rush of youthful daring the young man had rushed at its turned back, leaping atop it, pressing the barrel of his shotgun against the dome of the creatures head. It let out an almost pitiful groan as it teetered and toppled to the floor.
"It's done." The Spy said as he stepped back over to the rest of the group.
"Hey, y'know, Heavy's got some real hams on him." The Scout said, poking at the broken Daddy with the end of his bat. "I bet he could do some real damage swinging one of those gloves around."
"He does have a point." The Medic said. "He's certainly not going to be needing it anymore."
With a shrug, the Heavy knelt down, grabbing hold of the glove. It takes several hard pulls for the glove to even begin to budge, and several more before it finally pulls loose.
It was dropped with clang. Skin and bone came sloughing off from the arm as the glove came loose. Apparently fused to the very suit itself.
"Thats… ugh. Lets… lets move on." The Demoman said, covering his nose.
"Come through emergency access as soon as you can. You've got Ryan's eye now. You won't hear him coming… but he'll be there before you know it."
"Yes, it's likely if our survival of his trap before did not catch his attention, our killing his creatures and Dr Steinman more than likely did." Said the Spy as they began to move again.
As they made their way into the Emergency Access the Medic passed the key he had taken of the doctors body to the Engineer, who ambled his way back up the stairs to the control console.
"Security Alert Deactivated." A cheerful prerecorded voice said. "Thank you for your Patience!"
"I don't know how you managed it. But you did." Said Atlas as the gate blocking the door opened. "Come through to port Neptune now. I'm lookin' forward to shaking your hands."