Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They hadn’t originally intended for things to go the way they did. Really, they had just wanted to help him out- as a teammate, looking out for another teammate who seemed to be having an absurdly hard time. And here the other was, getting yelled at for it. It was the Medic who had decided to ream them out first, considering how much harder it was making his own (already extremely stressful) job. He had called the Engineer down to his lab, and he would’ve called down who the real problem was if he wasn’t secretly mildly afraid of them. Then again, everyone was. Everyone but the Engineer, that is. So far it was just the two of them, the Red Engineer a bit unsure as to why they were meeting and Medic simply stalling for time, trying to figure out how to not-so-delicately prod the subject in a way that wouldn’t set anyone off.

“Zo…” He drawled out, pushing his fingertips together as he attempted to bring up the subject. “You und… zhe Pyro.” In all honesty, Medic had suspected there was something between them. Whether comradery or friendship, it was dangerous to mention splitting up two people who simply enjoyed or appreciated each other. He would know: After all, he had been pulled away from Heavy a great many times. Oddly enough, the Engineer didn’t seem to mind the subject at all.

“Oh? What ‘bout ‘im?” He leaned back in his chair across the desk from Medic, though the doctor couldn’t quite tell his proper reaction thanks to those goggles the Engineer kept over his eyes. Medic decided proceeding with caution was the safest bet.

“Vell… Zhe vay zhat Pyro has been actink lately is…-“ Medic was cut off by a bit of a laugh from the Engineer. It unnerved him, if even just a bit.

“Helpful little fella, ain’t they? Savin’ me a lot’a trouble. All’a us, really.”

“Yes… I’m sure.” Medic mumbled in reply, having to try his absolute best to refrain from rolling his eyes.

“Zee, zhe thing is zhat they’re not actually doink their job. Und it’s… costing us a lot on zhe front lines. Vithout anyone checkink for Zpies, we get ztabbed a lot more zhan usual. Und besides zhat, we get surrounded much easier because they aren’t patrolling zhe grounds as often as zhey should.”

“You mean every other second?” The Engineer asked in reply, tilting his head a bit. “Look Meds, you know we appreciate ya- but you gotta share your lil’ firebug. They ain’t doin’ nothin’ wrong, they’re savin’ my sentries and lettin’ us push farther with protection. I know ya rely on ‘em doc, but it’s nice to not be alone in a room full’a Spies an’ then blamed when the intel gets taken and ya can’t get the last shot in on ‘em. So…If you’re goin’ where I think you are, I ain’t tellin ‘em to quit it.”

Medic let out a sigh.

“Zhat’s… understandable. Juzt tell zhem to remember to do their rounds every now und zhen, bitte?” The Engineer just stared back at Medic, a confused expression across his face.

“Why don’t ya tell ‘im yourself?”

Ah… there it was. It made Medic falter. “…I’m not talking to zhat… thing.”

Engineer shrugged, standing up. “They ain’t as bad as you make ‘em out to be, doc. Aren’t they the only one that really thanks ya when you help ‘em out aside’a me an’ Heavy?” At that, Medic faltered again. This time he opted to just not talk too much but offered a simple nod. Did Pyro thank him? It was hard to tell what they said at all with that mask muffling everything.

“My position ztands.”

Engineer sighed slightly. “An’ what makes ya think they’ll take any better to me? They scare all of us, par’ner. I still get nervous when they come around to spycheck. I’m tellin’ you doc, they ain’t with us an’ we can’t just ignore that. However they ain’t doin’ anything wrong so I’m not gonna tell ‘em anythin’ about changing, an’ that’s that.” The Engineer paused, looking the slightest bit disappointed. “I gotta go, Meds. I’ll see ya on the field… hopefully.” And with that, Engineer flashed the Medic a polite smile before pushing his chair in and heading out of the room. Medic thought briefly that it was likely that he was heading back to his own little workshop to beat something with a wrench, but the man didn’t trouble himself too much over it. He was busy caught up in his own whirlwind of thoughts, ranging from bitter and upset to positive and understanding.

It was all cut off and allowed to spill out when he flung open the door to the fridge, letting out a frustrated sigh as he took out a hidden pack of cigarettes and a pocket lighter. He flicked the spark wheel a few times until a steady flame roared up, swooping and swishing to fill its form. With a bit of caution, he slid a cigarette out of the pack- the good ones, rolled in white- and lit up the tip. Now, Medic despised smoking- hated it with a passion, the smell of it, the taste of it, everything. However, that didn’t stop him from smiling fondly as he presented it to his eager guest of honor.

“Well zhat was a very interesting conversation, oui?”

“Ja.”

---

Of course, the person the argument was about was fairly oblivious to the entire thing, doing whatever it was they were feeling up to doing right now. Usually they would be laying or sitting on the concrete floors that made up the hallways or a specialty room, scribbling away on a piece of paper to make some sort of picture they enjoyed and would keep in their room. They cared a lot about their pictures, drawing things that apparently nobody else could see or understand. Currently, however, the Pyro could be heard faintly from the kitchen. Hearing the soft muffled humming as he pushed out of the Medic’s lab, the Engineer let out a sigh and made his way over to his jumpsuited friend.

“Hey there Firefly, what’cha up to?”

“Mm mmphmm mhmmphh!!” The Pyro exclaimed, clearly excited about whatever they were making at the time. The Engineer couldn’t help but smile, patting the Pyro’s shoulder gently in appreciation. Pyro was, surprisingly, one of the best people on the team when it came to cooking. They were right up there with Spy, most other people except Engineer himself not even bothering to cook. It usually didn’t end too well with the others, some of the more famous examples being of the Demoman pouring about three bottles of Scrumpy over everything as a ‘finishing touch’ and Scout simply turning most things in a frying pan to charcoal.

“I wanted to say keep up the good work out there.” The Engineer admitted after idly watching the Pyro for a few seconds. “Means a lot to me, you stickin’ around like that.” The Pyro turned from the stove for a second, tilting their head slightly as if to show they were listening to the Engineer. It was almost like they had never really been thanked before, or even just told to keep up the good work. They couldn’t help but wonder if something had upset the man for him to suddenly come and talk to them like this.

“Mmm mphm mph?” The Pyro asked in response, making the Engineer falter slightly. He felt a little bad that nobody could actually understand the Pyro, but that seemed to be something the Pyro was used to and okay with. They seemed completely fine being left as a mystery to the world, and clearly they weren’t going to take their mask off, whether it meant others hearing them speak or not. The Engineer settled for nodding. It seemed to be either a very good or very bad response seeing as the Pyro made a sudden outburst; Engineer tensed up as he felt rubber gloved hands grab onto his arms and saw the Pyro get considerably closer to him. “MMPH MMHMHM MMPH!!!” They exclaimed, making the Engineer’s heart skip a beat.

He was terrified. The Engineer tried his best to keep a neutral expression, though he couldn’t help giving a slightly startled frown. He was extremely thankful for the fact that his eyes were hidden by goggles, because the last thing he wanted was for the Pyro to see the fear clouding them. It took a few seconds, but the Engineer calmed down a bit when the sudden realization hit that Pyro wasn’t moving. He felt an odd sort of weight pull at him, one he wasn’t sure he appreciated- but he felt obliged to say something, anything, just to break the silence. “…Yeah, I thought so too.” He laughed nervously, though he didn’t feel so bad when the Pyro started humming softly and nodded, giving him a thumbs up before turning his attention back to what he’d been cooking.

“What’cha makin’ there, par’ner?” The Engineer asked, taking a breath with his newfound confidence and stepping a little closer to Pyro. For a second Pyro just stopped and stared at him, like he was surprised that the Engineer was still hanging around. Slowly, he turned to the Engineer and showed him what was in the frying pan.

“Pancakes?” Engineer asked, unable to help the smile growing on his face. What the hell was this maniac doing making pancakes at seven at night?

“Mmh mhm mmhh?” Pyro asked in response, gesturing to Engineer with the pan slightly to emphasize his question. At least he was making an effort to help him understand, or there might be some real issues with how things were going.

“Me? Nah, it’s alright buddy. Jus’ wanted to say I really appreciate your help earlier, some people just don’t get it. You’re doin’ great, keep up the hard work.” Engineer smiled, giving Pyro a nervous pat on the back as the Pyro watched the Engineer in awe. With that, the Engineer waved goodbye, heading back to his lab to get back to work on some upgrades to his sentries. The Pyro’s gaze lingered on him, watching him go before they slowly turned their attention back to their pan. For a second they watched their pancake in silence, as if the small interaction had shaken them to their core. And in a way, it had.

A sharp wailing of a siren yanked Pyro out of their thoughts, making their head snap around to where the sound was coming from. Almost instantly, they turned off the stove and set their pan aside, running as fast as they could to the resupply room. It was a reaction drilled into each and every one of mercenaries from the second they got out of training, knowing that at any time, the opposing mercs could launch an attack. It didn’t matter when or where, just that they got to their arms and defended what was theirs. That still didn’t stop Pyro from being a tad bit upset he couldn’t have his pancakes until later, now. As Pyro ran down the hall they passed by Soldier and the Heavy, giving the two a salute as they strode through the metal door to the room full of lockers. Most of the others were already there, Scout probably being the first to arrive- undoubtedly followed by Spy and the Medic. Out of all of the people in the room however, Pyro took note that two of them were missing.

The Engineer and Sniper were nowhere to be seen. With that in mind, Pyro did as most others were doing and went to their locker to grab what they wanted to take with them. Of course, they seemed to choose what they wanted a bit… differently. While Spy twirled around his favorite gift, the Conniver’s Kunai, and Scout tucked various sugary drinks and a bottle of milk into his mail bag, Pyro was staring at their favorite color air blower. It was the color red and had a fun little face on the end of it, but they weren’t feeling very red today. Instead, they felt kind of blue. So, tilting their head a bit, they reached for their most favorite ocean blue color sprayer- or as the others tended to call it, the Phlogistinator. No one seemed to understand how Pyro chose what they wanted on a given day, but no one dared to question it. Upon noticing what Pyro had picked up Spy and Scout both inched back a bit from them, Medic scooting a little closer to the Heavy. Apparently no one else was feeling blue today.

As Pyro latched their ‘weapon’ of choice onto the strap over their back, the large metal garage-like door to the resupply room shot open and in stumbled the Engineer, running and desperately grabbing for the resupply cabinet. It looked like he needed help, he was covered in red. Pyro tilted their head as they watched. They watched as he collapsed, body heaving, uncertain ragged breaths moving his limp form just meters from the cabinet; They watched as Spy ran straight past them, shoving them out of the way slightly, Medic not far behind. The others seemed as stunned as Pyro was. Medic put his Quick Fix charge on the Engineer, Spy carefully helping the Texan roll over so they could see where he was wounded. He asked why the others had come unannounced. Spy said he didn’t know. He said it would be okay. The Engineer nodded.

The spinning up of a heavy-duty gun could be heard fading in from the background as the Engineers senses slowly came back to him, along with some rowdy yelling from the mans over excitable teammates. “It was their Spy.” The French man announced, gently patting the Engineer’s shoulder. “They’re after our intelligence, even after their failure earlier today. Let us go, we must hurry!” With the Red Spy’s words, a new sense of urgency overcame the room and the Heavy as well as Scout ran out into the open, ready to fight. On the same note, Spy and Medic had switched their focus from the Engineer to the fight ahead of them, sharing a knowing look before breaking to perform their respective jobs. Though startled, Demoman followed in suit, letting loose a battle cry as he pulled out the Eyelander and charged out the door. Soldier wasn’t far behind. One by one, the team had filed out, leaving the Engineer on his back on the floor to catch his breath.

“Mmh mmph mm?” A muffled voice quizzed, making the Engineer open his eyes. His head was throbbing from blood loss, but he could do without the extra until the battle was over. He had to squint a bit, but after a few seconds his vision focused enough to make out a gloved hand, extended for him to take. He let out a wheezy laugh and did just that, feeling a strong, decisive pull help him up to his feet. It was a struggle for the Engineer to keep his footing at first, having been shot in the leg twice then stabbed, but he found a steady hand on his arm helping him stay up. Pyro tilted their head slightly and gave a questioning thumbs up, making the Engineer smile.

“S’ just a scratch. Come on buddy, let’s give ‘em hell.” Pyro gave an approving nod before grabbing the Manmelter and tucking it onto their side, then taking their Powerjack and running out of resupply with a battle cry of their own. The Engineer took a few seconds to get his mind right before reaching for his Rescue Ranger, running back out into the chaos of the fight.

Now you’d think eventually you’d get used to stepping out of resupply to the sight of one on one battles three feet away, hearing screams and the cries of friends and foes alike as they were cut down where they stood. In a way, the Engineer thought he had. It was still hard sometimes not to pay attention to them, to run past all the violence first and set up like the team needed him to. It was hard to keep in mind that getting involved right away was a horrible thing to do, knowing that they were only able to hold off the other team for so long when they were this close. Knowing that if he got involved and got killed, the others might be able to push through and take what they wanted without that second line of defense the Engineer provided. Running away was hard. No matter how many times he had to do it, the Engineer always hesitated when he came out of resupply. But now it was time to go.

As it stood Demoman in specific was having a rather rough time, being caught in an Eyelander-to-Ubersaw fight with the Blu team’s Medic. It was frustrating for the Scotsman, and it was starting to show as his movements got sloppier in comparison to the Medic’s composed, elegant and highly refined fighting style. On top of that, having a much longer and heavier weapon was putting Demo at a disadvantage. Advance, Perry, Fade- Just forwards and back, swing by swing blocked with ease by the blade of the Ubersaw. They weren’t that far from resupply, fighting on the ledge of the Red base’s upper level as Demo tried to push the Medic back over the edge. However, as Medic shoved Demo to the wall, blade to throat- it became quite clear the opposite was happening. Taking a deep breath, Demo closed his eye and prepared to feel the familiar sting of death.

Oddly enough, all he felt was a slight tug down his armored front as the Ubersaw dropped to the concrete with a hollow ringing noise. The smaller ringing was followed only seconds later by a loud, solid ‘THWANG!!’ and the sound of about a hundred and eighty-seven pounds of raw meat dropping heavily to the ground. A few seconds later, the Demoman slowly dared to open his eye. He was greeted warmly by the sight of Soldier looming over the corpse of the Blu Medic, shovel stabbing into the dead man’s chest. “America wins again!” He cheered, grinning as he slid the Market Gardener back onto his back. Turning to Demo, he gave the explosives expert a thumbs up before moving on, and the Demoman couldn’t help the smile growing on his face as he followed after Soldier. Just over the din of all the fighting the spinning of a minigun could be heard drawing near, making a member or two of the Red team anxious.

The Red Medic and Heavy were heading to the lower level of the base as they decided to try and cut off any sort of advances the other team could possibly make from down there, but were rather startled to hear the spinning up of a minigun. Generally, Spy took care of that before the opposing Heavy got too close to handle… speaking of which, where was the baguette boy? Not unlike usual, the French assassin was impossible to spot. This time, however, it was starting to look like an issue. He couldn’t be dead, could he? The Red Medic shook his head free of those thoughts. No, he was fine. Their Spy was better than that. He kept holding onto that thought until the whirring of the minigun slowed to a stop, and he found the aforementioned gun pressed nearly right up against his chest. “Oh… zhis iz actually very bad..” He whimpered out, cringing slightly before he felt the minigun ram into his chest, knocking him back against the wall.

“Whoops.” The Red Spy mumbled, only visible after the Blu Heavy had dropped to the ground. “Apologies, Docteur.”

“Could you have vaited any longer?” The Medic asked sarcastically, huffing in disapproval. He dusted off his lab coat, sighing slightly as he glanced over from Spy to Heavy. The Red Heavy was still spinning up his minigun. He smiled at Medic sheepishly.

“Yes, but I prefer my teammates whole, thank you.” The Spy hummed, adjusting his tie before tucking his Kunai back in his pocket. “Sorry for the delay. Have you seen Sniper?” Spy stared at Medic expectantly as Medic shook his head no. Spy heaved a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Ah… Merde. Very well then, back to work!” And just like that, Spy was once again gone.

Running past Medic fast enough to make him fumble his gun was Scout, saluting to Heavy and Medic and cheering and laughing as he booked it… into a moat. Well, one could only hope that kid knew what he was doing. He hadn’t fucked up an unrepairable amount yet, though he wasn’t exactly the best- he was learning. For now, that was all the team needed. The first tithe of struggle came, however, when there was the sound of compressed air and crackling from outside. Shortly after that there was a sudden scream of “Fire, fire!”, followed by a haunting, dying yell. Medic cringed as he heard the screams from outside, only stepping out once Heavy had finished re-spinning his gun. There was only one thing that could make someone yell like that.

“Incoming!!” Medic yelled, hoping it was loud enough for the rest of the scattered team to hear on both floors. Luckily, it seemed to echo throughout the entire base- Probably the only upside to everything being concrete. Upstairs on the overhang, the Blu Spy uncloaked behind a poorly formed metal wall. He mumbled to himself, quietly flipping out the knife he chose to use- the Conniver’s Kunai. Sniper held his breath not too far away, staring through the sighting of his rifle and watching for anyone who may show their face. Blind and deaf, he was easy prey to the Blu Spy.

Well… He would have been, had he not dived out of the way when he heard the rustling of fabric behind him. “SPOY!” He called out, letting his rifle rest on the ground where he’d rolled for the time being. Instead, he unsheathed the long-bladed Kukri from his back.

“Just put your weapons down and walk away.” The Blu Spy hissed, already cocking the Diamondback and pointing it at Sniper’s head.

“Ah don’t think so mate…” Sniper drew out, gaze turning from the Spy in front of him to the person behind them.

“Mm mmph mphmm!” The Pyro almost sung, laughing slightly to themself. They wove to the Spy slightly, tilting their head as if they were grinning widely underneath their optical mask. They clicked the trigger of the Phlog- once, twice- and the Spy had taken a leap of faith off the balcony. The Pyro just laughed joyfully, as if they had the best job in the world. Normally, on a day they felt so good, they might give chase… but not today. They knew exactly where that Spy would go next.

“Thanks, mate.” Sniper laughed nervously, giving a thumbs up to Pyro as he slid the Kukri over his back once again. Pyro replied with something a little too muffled and ambiguous to understand, but they seemed happy to help none the less, and slung the Phlog over their shoulder before going off to find the Engineer once more.

Chapter Text

The Medic was furious. He couldn’t help but glare as he caught sight of Pyro running back through the base, spraying short bursts of fire in every corner as he passed by. He was going back for the Engineer. Though he was starting to lose faith in Pyro, Medic hoped- no, prayed- that they had a good reason for doing so. Perhaps they had seen the Blu Spy, and were going back to act as a last line of defense? They were a nearly 100% successful backup plan when it came to eliminating immediate threats to the team and their intel. Medic ended up shaking it off as he pushed forwards with Demoman, leaving Pyro to run back into the heart of the Red teams base. They were greeted by an all too familiar, rather upsetting sound. The Spy had beaten them there. Knowing they would only cause more trouble by showing up at this point and having full faith in the Engineers ability to defend himself, Pyro ended up doing a small run through the back entrance of the base to clear out any of the… more creative enemies and meet back up with their teammates.

They popped out into the open under a bridge, remaining as silent as they could as they continued to run through the shallow water. They could hear the screams and huffs of both teammates and enemies as they passed under, glancing up to see nothing but the wood of the structure they were underneath. Pyro let out a small, muffled sigh as they glanced around, backtracking slightly and hiding away for a few seconds in the safety of the part of their base that tucked under the ground and opened into the water-filled gully they had running under their self-proclaimed front yard. They took a second to take the Powerjack off their back, flipping it over in their hands. They loved its design, but they couldn’t shake the feeling that they had grabbed the wrong device to whack things with today. Grumbling, they made a run back towards resupply to see if they had time to switch it out for a more precise tool.

They made their way up the nearest flight of stairs, dashing into the supply room that hosted their lockers. They reached instinctively for the tool they wanted, but it was… gone? It appeared to be missing, which really threw Pyro a new one. Their daze of confusion was short lived though, as they heard a cry from farther back across the base. It echoed through the tin-plated halls, making the pyromaniac involuntarily shiver. Looks like they were out of time. The words “Help me!” echoed through their mind, dripping with desperation, and pushed them to run faster than ever before back to around where they heard it come from.

“MM HM MHMMH!!!” They called out, as loud as the gas mask over their face would allow. Almost neurotically, they kept glancing around for their friend, gripping the handle of the Powerjack tighter and tighter. They started to make a run towards the next room over, knowing that if the team was doing well enough the Engineer would be able to push up his gear, and by the sound of an agonized yell someone caught the Engineer at a bad time. Racing up the stairs to the second floor, Pyro found themselves face to face with… another Engineer? They had to step back, that was far from what they were expecting. Not only was the Blu Spy nowhere to be found, but the Blu Engineer had somehow managed to sneak past Pyro and into the base.

“What’s this? Plan B?” The Blu Engineer scoffed as they shot a glance at Pyro, who had made themself busy checking corners for that Spy. The Spies were perhaps the biggest nuisance on either team, and letting one go too easily could be a real mistake. Pyro had the burning feeling they just got shit talked, but only raised their head slightly in response before continuing the area check. With both Engineers together, they felt like they had walked in on something they shouldn’t. The Red Engineer hissed through his teeth, and Pyro couldn’t help but slow down slightly. They should keep going, but they wanted to listen for a few seconds. Maybe they’d pick up some new insults, who knows.

“You think I called someone because of you, son? I got bigger problems to whack upside the head. Besides, a REAL Texan woulda dodged that.” That made Pyro perk up. Whether intentionally or not, that meant that the Blu Spy had tried to pull something and was probably hiding for now. They decided they should stay, if only to protect the sentry guarding the intel. Waiting for the Engineers to get distracted would just be too perfect, and it would be too easy to overwhelm the Red Engineer once his sentry was down.

“Of all the things in the world…” The Blu Engineer fell silent, tossing his pistol away out of respect. Instead, he pulled his wrench out of his toolbelt, letting it hang loosely in his hand. “I never woulda taken a Texan like you for a coward.” Suddenly they moved, almost like steps to a dance, the Blu Engineers wrench slamming into the ground where the Red Engineer had been standing just seconds before. The Red Engineer tossed his pistol to the ground as well in response, the soft sound of metal clattering on concrete echoing through the room as it slid away. In its place, he slid out the Jag.

The two circled for a small time before Blu decided to make the first move. Lunging forwards, he managed to clip Red’s jaw with the Jag before dodging a swing hard enough to take his head off. Pyro watched them for a few seconds, not wanting to get too close in case the Blu Engineer reacted… poorly. It looked like they were settling it just fine their own way. Beyond the clanking of wrench hitting wrench, there was another noise that was just out of place. It almost sounded like something short circuiting, and it caught Pyro’s attention over the pained grunts nearby and what was surely the breaking of bones. It wasn’t a second later that they got the eerie feeling of being watched, and when they turned to check the sudden slash of a knife down across their arm made them cry out in surprise.

Spinning around and doubling back, Pyro held up their Phlog across their chest to block the swift slash of a knife again. Swiping it down they caught the Blu Spy’s arm between their chest and the flamethrower, and wasted no time in kicking the Spy in the chest hard enough for their shoulder to emit a loud cracking sound. Getting stabbed in the chest in response was far from the nicest thing the Pyro had ever felt, though it seemed to work well enough for the Spy because the pressure of the Phlog on his arm let off and he instantly slipped free.

“Hudda hudda huuh!!” Pyro hissed, quickly flipping their flamethrower to hold it properly, ramming it against the Spy’s chest.

“Same to you!” The Spy growled back, vanishing into thin air seconds before Pyro hit the trigger. He didn’t get far, flames engulfing the air of a silhouette that proceeded to let out a long string of what Pyro could only assume were French curses. They tilted their head, watching with fascination as the screaming figure radiated a gorgeous sheen of rainbow and glitter. How convenient it was that such a beautiful sight could just make all their problems go away.

They jumped off the ledge by the stairs, landing on the floor below easily and giving chase. They had to end this and get back to their all-around jobs, or the other teammates might get mad. They looked around for the burst of flames to follow, but instead heard the sound of struggling mechanics almost as soon as they landed on ground level. Pyro couldn’t help but panic slightly, growling to themself before jumping back up on the stairs and running back past the Engineers to the sentry.

“MMMMMMMRRRRRRRPPPGHHH!” The Pyro yelled, switching out their Phlog for the Powerjack as they caught sight of someone who obviously shouldn’t have been there. “Mph mphuh hph hurrph!!” They continued, chasing the now retreating figure. Once they were close enough they leaped after their prey, raising the Powerjack before slamming it across the side of the person’s face, head separating from the body from the force of the impact mixed with the previous injuries. Once the body dropped to the ground, Pyro was pleased to see it change color, revealing a sharp blue suit. Finally, they could go back to their rounds.

Meanwhile, the Blu Engineer was struggling to hold his ground, but knew all too well that the Red Engineer was slowly giving in to the sound of his breaking sentry. Now that it was down, Blu didn’t have to worry about staying out of range anymore. Of course, like many thoughts that day, that was cut short. The Red Engineer managed to kick him up against a wall, then dove back to crack the sapper off his machine. Blu wasn’t having that. He followed as fast as he could, lunging after the Red Engineer and grabbing him by the throat while his back was turned.

“You just ain’t doin’ it right.” He laughed darkly, voice low. Yanking him back slightly, the Blu Engineer taunted the Red by holding him just out of swinging range from his sentry, forcing his head up to watch the destruction of his gun. The Red just wasn’t fast enough; It took more than two hits with the Jag to break the Spy’s sappers.

“Next time, come back with a man’s tool.”

“Tch… Say goodnight, boy.” The Red Engineer gasped out, leaving the Blu Engineer confused. The second-long question was answered, however, when the Red Engineer threw his Jag as hard as he could at the sentry, knocking the sapper clear off. The Blu Engineers entire demeanor changed almost instantly, shoulders slumping as his grip on Red’s neck tightened.

“Darnit.”

Mustering up the last of his energy, the Red Engineer kicked back, driving the heel of his boot into the Blu Engineer’s crotch behind him. The sentry tilted slightly, beeping in recognition as the Blu Engineer let go of the Red’s throat in shock, crying out in pain. The Red engineer fell to the floor, gasping and watching as his sentry unleased enough bullets and missiles into the other man to give him lead poisoning for three lifetimes. Somehow, the Red Engineer was safe.

A voice over the speakers in the base informed the Red team that they had won for now, which brought the rest of the team slowly but surely back into the base. The members walked past the Engineer as he laid there, just trying to catch his breath- until a black gloved hand appeared in front of his face, that is. Spy helped the man up, and together they went to join the others in putting their things away for the night. A few of the individuals talked to the Medic about seeing him for minor injuries, both Engineer and Pyro among them, before they all went back about their own business. Finally, despite the slight tension in the air now, the team continued on with their night.

Back at the Blu base, things were nowhere near as easy.

Chapter Text

Inside the supply room, there was a whirling of blue electricity. It was common to see it briefly as the team’s members were reassembled, the clicking of dress shoes hitting the floor making a few members of the Blu team flinch. Their Spy gasped for air slightly as he suddenly felt himself come into existence again, breathing heavily for a few seconds before he managed to calm down. The Blu supply room was still and silent, most people watching as the Spy shook off the after effects of respawn. A few seconds after Spy got his breathing under control, he put his hands on his head and jaw and sharply cracked his neck. He couldn’t help but shudder; Going through respawn never really got easier, and he could still feel the ache and burn of the injuries that caused his death.

The Medic couldn’t help but flinch at the sharp cracking sound that emitted from his teammate.

“You lost.” A voice crackled over the loudspeakers in the room, loud and condescending. “You couldn’t even get something when you had the surprise advantage. I am deeply ashamed of all of you.”

Spy didn’t move an inch. Slowly, the people around the room began to move again, putting away their belongings as they saw fit. After a few moments, Spy turned around and cleared his throat, getting the attention of his teammates. They all seemed to respect their masquerade masked friend enough to hear him out, even though they didn’t show it.

“So… we ‘ad one bad night.” Spy sighed, giving his team a small, encouraging smile. “One really, painfully, excruziatingly ‘orrible bad night.”

“Gee, thanks ya spook. Very encouraging.” Scout laughed weakly, making Spy shake his head.

“…Anyways, what I’m saying is dzat it’s just one night. One out of many. And dze more nights we ‘ave, dze more times we get to wipe dze floor with them. Tomorrow will be better.”

A few of the members nodded their head, one or two mumbling half-hearted words of appreciation. The Engineer remained silent, along with the Medic and as per usual, the Sniper. While Medic finished putting his things in his locker and left with his Medigun, Spy headed back to his locker between the mediman and the bushman.

“Should probably go see the Medic soon, mate. I reckon I haven’t heard a neck crack like that since Demo got ‘is head spun around backwards.”

Spy sighed as he set his disguise kit in his locker, hesitating before he seemed to settle on what he wanted to say.

“I’m fine, but thanks for your concern. You probably get some nasty shots every day, my friend.”

Sniper shrugged. It was weird talking to the Spy, but at least he was polite when he chose to talk. He didn’t do so very often, and the mask over his eyes had nothing on the way he masked any emotion. Sniper might envy him if he really cared about that much that went on around here.

“Not like that, not anymore. Suit y’self though, mate. Medic’s probably scared stiff, ‘e saw ya jus’ ‘bout snap yer bloody neck.”

Spy paused after tapping his everyday cigarette case back into his suit pocket, turning to Sniper to regard him with what was probably both a judgmental and mildly curious expression. Despite the mask hiding it, Sniper could tell by the way the man scanned him over. He really couldn’t care less. Finally, the Spy nodded, seeming satisfied for now.

“…Very well. Be sure to take care of yourself as well, though.” As Spy went to leave, Sniper couldn’t help but glance over at him. He had paused to speak to the Engineer, hand on his shoulder, and the Engineer nodded along before patting his back in appreciation. Sniper shook his head, sitting down on the bench in front of their lockers to clean his rifle. He was always the last to leave, and this time would be no different. Slowly the others filtered out, all except for Pyro and Sniper.

“…Mh, mh mphm mmph.”The BLU Pyro mumbled, looking over to Sniper. Much like their gun-wielding friend, they were sitting on the bench in front of their locker, but with their head in their hands. Sniper didn’t even look up from his gun.

“What about?”

“Hudda hudda hmmph, mmph hudda mmph hmph.”

Sniper nodded. “Well… ‘e’s a tricky one, y ’know. Just do something nice, he’s not entirely horrible all the time.”

Pyro nodded, seeming to accept Snipers advice. They remembered the last time they tried to talk to Scout, it had ended extremely poorly and Scout slapped Pyro with a fish out of fear. The young man would never admit he was startled of course, but there was no other reason for him to pull a salmon out of the fridge his head was buried in and whack the arsonist across the mask with it. He had also screamed and fumbled out a few names, but it was nothing that Pyro hadn’t heard before. It didn’t hurt like the salmon did, but it was disheartening at best.

Pyro decided the gesture hurt in a different way, and one they didn’t really like from someone they were trying to be nice to. They understood why Scout was scared, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. They were going to keep trying to be friends. Taking their teammates advice, they stood up, hanging up the flamethrower they had let rest on their lap while they talked.

“Mmph hmph.” They thanked, waving goodbye as they walked out. Sniper only nodded in acknowledgement, the brim of his hat slipping lower and covering his eyes.

“Good luck.”

When Pyro pushed open the doors to the infirmary, they couldn’t help but sigh. They walked around the Scout and patted the Engineer on the back, taking notice of a new scar that went from his forehead and traveled under the right side of their goggles. Moving in a bit further, they knocked on the wall outside of the curtain dividing the room in two.

“Hudda hhhh hmm!” They called, letting the Medic know they were there as well. Without waiting for a response, they turned back to Scout and waved. Scout nodded to them in greeting before Spy snuck up behind him, ruffling his hair. Despite being visibly cut an inch deep from shoulder to waist, he still yelped- and groaned in pain- But fought back weakly nonetheless, shoving Spy away with what little strength he had.

Spy just shook his head slightly, chuckling to himself. In the back of his mind, the man knew Sniper was right; He could feel something very wrong with his spine, though he couldn’t even guess at precisely what. He couldn’t help but feel slightly bad for Medic for all of the injuries he’d be treating as well, seeing as his teammate had a very long night ahead of him. He hated to be part of that burden.

It was about then that Medic ducked out of the curtain, waving Scout back first. While Scout fought off and flat out rejected the help that Spy offered him, he still staggered, looking like he was going to fall at any second.

Not even two seconds after Pyro thought that did Scout actually go down. Both Pyro and Spy rushed to catch Scout, the two helping the speedy gunner back to the examination table.

“Danke, Herr Spy. And…” Medic faltered, staring at Pyro before shaking his head. “...Pyro.” He struggled with pronouns there. In fact, the whole team did. Nobody actually knew what the Pyro was, and quite frankly, if Pyro didn’t care neither did they. “Have eizha of you seen zhe Soldier?”

Pyro and Spy shared a look before turning back to Medic - who was strapping Scout down - and shaking their heads. Medic cursed under his breath at that, which made Spy start to worry. Did that mean Soldier was missing? And if so, was he hurt? Or worse…

Though he really couldn’t stand the Soldier, the loud, dim-witted patriot wasn't always… entirely unpleasant. And even when he was being an annoyance, Spy still cared about his teammate. He knew Soldier wasn’t the brightest and could get into a lot of shit that way, which was usually kept to a minimum thanks to the Demoman. Come to think of it though, he hadn’t seen Soldier in the supply room after the battle either.

Spy groaned softly, slipping his hand under his mask and rubbing his eyes. What a night.

“Zhis isn’t zhe first time he’s disappeared, you know.” Medic sighed after shooing Pyro through the curtain and back into the waiting half of the room. “It’s becoming an issue.”

“I know, ‘e’s not dzat discreet.” Spy hummed in response, sparing Scout a quick glance. At least he seemed to be out cold at this point, he didn’t need to hear this and he definitely didn’t need to be up while Medic was sewing him shut. “Dzough he is getting better at slipping away.”

“Can’t you do anything? I mean, it’s not like I care about him all zhat much, I just don’t particularly want to deal with anozher avoidable death tonight.”

“Understandable.” Spy sighed softly, hand going to his pocket. He ran his thumb over the Deadringer, a bit of a habit he had when he was stressed. That came from being hunted, he assumed. “Is this a job, Docteur?”

Medic seemed to consider that for a second before slowly nodding, going back to working on Scout.

“Ja. Consider it a side job. I can compenzate for your time.”

“Save it until dze works done. You ‘ave a long night ahead of you. I’ll go ahead and start, I can always drop by some ozher time.”

“Ach, vhatever you say… I did want to have a look at you, zhough.”

“A look at my bones, perhaps.” Spy laughed softly, smiling at the Medic. “I’ll get back to you on Soldier. And take good care of Scout!” Spy called over his shoulder as he walked away, pushing through the curtain. Pyro watched him stride out, tilting their head slightly and softly mumbling to themself.

Were they for real? Did they seriously think that Pyro was deaf, or that a curtain was a legitimate way to block out any and all sound? Pyro shook their head, mumbling softly to themself. Soldier was loud and annoying, but better alive than dead. Especially since they had downtime now.

Spy wasted no time in running a hand over his belt, making sure his gun and knife were on him as the garage door to the medical bay shut behind him. He walked up the slight ramp merging the two rooms with a skip in his step, picking up the pace as he jogged to the right, pushing through the door that led to the hall with all the mercenaries rooms branching off of it. They were housed like the vaults in a catacomb, door after door down the hall on either side. Their beds, like body boxes, hung from the walls of their rooms by chains.

Spy realized this. He glanced around with a typical numbness in his gaze, lighting up a cigarette as he made his way to the very end of the hall. There were two rooms at the end of the hall that no one had dared to touch since Spy had been there, and he doubted either were actually lived in. Those rooms belonged to the Sniper and himself.

The Spy’s gaze lingered on the Sniper’s class sign on their door before he turned into his own room, just across the way. His room was full of boxes on the far side, one and only one open, filled with the weapons and gear he was most fond of. Spy took a long drag from his cigarette as he began to dig through it.

He ended up switching the Diamondback out of its holster on his side, replacing it with the L’etranger. He did the same by replacing the Eternal Reward with his most beloved rose printed butterfly knife, and the Deadringer with the Cloak and Dagger. He shuffled around in the crate a bit more, sending a few packing peanuts over and onto the floor. Finally, he felt his fingers brush against it.

A camera. A good one, at that; He treasured this camera, and though he used it often he made sure it never got so much as a scratch. He flipped it over in his gloved hands once or twice before carefully tucking the little mechanical box inside his suit jacket, pushing it into the pocket hidden just next to his collar, on the opposite side of the coat as the one he kept his cigarette case in. Making his way out now, he let out a long breath of smoke.

The first thing Spy did was go through the base , checking each room for Soldier and asking the others that were around if they had seen him. Nobody had.

Soldier already knew he had to be careful when he snuck back inside late at night. He knew that some of the mercs had trouble sleeping, but he mainly knew that Spy rarely - if ever - slept. Sniper was the same way and often kept watch over the base at night from his den, unless someone else wanted to take over watch duty. Sniper just seemed to fit the job, and he really didn’t mind.

To Soldier though, that meant trying to sneak around like a Spy. Avoiding Sniper and the real Spy, who was often in the kitchen or next to the front door, was nearly impossible for the clunky blue clad man. He was better off just using force to get into places. There was also something to be said for his determination, but whether his intelligence helped or hurt that was hard to tell.

For a second Spy was a little worried about how this could go; Soldier was a lot smarter than he let on sometimes. All those worries vanished, however, when the door creaked open and a head poked in. Spy ducked behind the wall of the kitchen, making sure to fully cloak before he began creeping back out. Once Soldier had looked around the area, he seemed to relax a bit, saying goodbye to someone before casually walking back in and flopping down on the living room couch.

To Soldier, it was witchcraft. Spy just always was. One second he was laying down on the couch and the next, the Frenchman was there, standing over him with the face he seemed to always have, even if he wasn’t stabbing someone in the back. It was unnerving. Annoying, really.

“I know who you were with.”

Oh, it was beyond annoying. And Soldier wanted to avoid this conversation at all costs.

“Oh yeah? Prove it, Frenchie! Just because I’m in the living room doesn’t mean I was with someone else!”

So that’s how he was going to play it.

“Merde. I saw you come in and watched you say goodbye to someone, you imbecile. Why don’t you just tell me everything before I have to gut it out of you?”

“Let’s go crouton, you wanna fight?!” Soldier yelled, rolling off the couch and getting back up with his fists raised. He looked like he was ready to oneshot Spy, but with his fists.

“You’re ‘iding something.” Spy sighed, shaking his head. “You want to do dzis dze ‘ard way?”

“Yes.” Soldier replied, dead serious, without hesitation. Spy could appreciate that. He was hard to crack when he wanted to be.

“Very well dzen.” Spy hummed, straightening his tie. “Your loyalty is admirable. ‘Ave a good night.”

Despite not liking the man all that much, Spy gave Soldier a pat on the back before heading through the far door to the main hub of the base, a large open warehouse central to the building. From there he jogged across the room and found himself going through the large, open metal door to the lounge room, the medical bay clear across it.

He turned almost entirely around and jogged up the stairs that climbed over the door he’d just come through; They led up over the second floor where a little where a wooden walkway was built high around the top of the building. It was like… there were two and a half floors, with a secret half floor made specially for Sniper.

Spy went about halfway up the second flight of stairs, turning to feel along the stone walls for a loose brick. Up here the open sided staircase was joined by a second wall for a short while at the top, which helped lead up to the second floor and Sniper’s den. A ways away from the stairs the ceiling cut up at an odd angle, almost as if it was an angry rectangle with only one corner that was chopped off to make it seem more modern.

Spy felt his fingers slip against the crumbling mortar under one of the stone slabs, smiling slightly to himself as he began to inch it out of the wall. Leaving it at that for a few seconds he proceeded to the second floor, unlatching and pushing out the nearest widow. He stepped up through it, crawling out onto the wooden platform snaking around the building.

Scooting out of the window’s view, Spy sat and hung his legs off the edge of the platform. It was only a matter of minutes before there was the sound of shuffling not too far away. Someone else sat next to him, but the two didn’t look at each other: They only looked out over the gully and the desert, watching the setting sun.

“Saw yer brick out there, mate. What’s goin on?”

“I need your ‘elp with a job. Soldiers ‘iding somedzing, and I want to work with you to find out who he’s seeing dzat he doesn’t want anyone knowing about.”

“Reasonable. What’s in it for me?”

“A freshly sharpened Kukiri every battle for three weeks, so it won’t take as long for you to save your skin. I know ‘ow you like your crits.”

For a second the two fell silent, before Sniper turned and offered Spy his hand.

“You’ve got a deal.”

After the two shook on it, they stood to go get ready to settle in.

“Want me ta push yer brick back in after you settle down?”

“If you don’t mind, merci. It’s been a long day, for both of us I’m sure.”

“Got that right.” Sniper laughed, following Spy back inside and over to the stairs. He watched as Spy leaped from the stairs next to the wall, his foot finding grip where he pulled out the rock and the wall next to it. Kicking off, he jumped from the right wall up towards the ceiling, directly at the surface where it looked like the corner had gotten cut off.

Unbelievably, he seemed to find a grip, a slab of hard concrete about an inch thick that solidly made up the lower level of the ceiling there. The rest of the angle, his hands seemed to clip through. Swinging slightly, he managed to hoist himself up and through the angled ceiling. Sniper kicked the brick used to reach the hidden platform back into the wall, called a goodnight to Spy, and went back on his way to his nest.

Spy sat near the edge of the hidden room he’d climbed into. He debated on shutting down the plain concrete hologram he had set up, if only for a little while: It was hard to see through it, and he wanted to see the night sky through the sliver of the window visible out the far window from such an angle. That could, however, very easily reveal that Spy was content living in a hole in the ceiling. He wasn’t very comfortable with that.

So far, only Sniper knew about Spy’s secret room, and that was only because the suit clad man had no way of fixing the brick on his own. The bushman seemed intent on keeping it their little secret, so for the time being, Spy didn’t mind. Finally, it was time to settle in, and it didn’t take any of the BLU team long to fall asleep.