Chapter Text
“Vhere are ve?”
Red Spy opened his eyes, the sun's bright rays temporarily blinding him. He sat up and once his vision returned he wished it hadn't. There he sat along with four other people, the problem with that is they were all from the BLU team. “Ah Merde...” he groaned, placing his head within his hands, shaking it side to side. “Of all de luck...”
“Spah!” BLU Engineer hollered out, grabbing his Frontier Justice, pointing it at Spy as he cocked it, getting ready to fire.
“VAIT!! Don't Fire Zat!” BLU Medic screamed, throwing his hands up to emphasize his words.
Engineer's eyebrows lifted in confusion as he looked over at Medic, gun still aimed at the sitting spy. “Why the hell not?? It's Spah... He's gonna...”
“He's not going to do anyzhing...” Medic interrupted, “und if you haven't noticed... Ve're not at ze Badlands anymore, vhich means...”
“E ill I...” came a mumbling voice behind them.
“Zat is correct, Pyro... Vizout ze base...”
“No respawn...” Engineer concluded, earning a nod from Medic. “Dag nabbit... How did we get here? How do we get back? Where the sam hill are we?” he asked, finally lowering his gun.
Spy exhaled loudly, a breath he didn't realize he was even holding until the weapon had been lowered. Once he cleared his throat and composed himself to trust his own voice he pointed out to the others, “ Gentleman... If I may... It appears ze Scout is unconscious.”
All heads turned, their eyes focusing on BLU Scout.
“Uh e eh?” Pyro asked, tilting his head to the side.
Medic knelt down, placing two fingertips to Scout's neck, checking for a pulse. “Nein... He's alive.” He stated, answering Pyro's question then stood up and lifted his medigun, pointing it at Scout before flipping the switch. Confusion riddled his brow when the medipack didn't fire up. Medic flipped the switch a few more times, growing aggravated before finally lowering the medigun down then slipping the pack from his back, carefully placing it on the ground.
After watching Medic for several minutes as he was looking over the medipack and trying to figure out what went wrong, Engineer walked over and sat next to Medic offering his help which Medic accepted in earnest. “Zhere doesn't seem to be anyzhing vrong vith it... I don't understand vhy it's not vorking...”
“Well, apparently there's somethin' wrong... It's just gonna take some time ta figure it out...” Engineer responded, taking off his hard hat and scratching his head in confusion. From what he was seeing, Medic was correct in his assessment. There didn't look to be anything broken or out of place and it had just been charged before they ended up here. A mystery worth looking into, in his eyes.
While the two men were trying to fix the medigun, Spy quietly moved over towards Scout until he was stopped by an ax dropping down in front of him. Looking up, Spy noticed the defensive stance Pyro had taken between him and Scout. “I'm not going to hurt ze boy... You have my word...” Spy actually heard Pyro growl in warning before stepping to the side but keeping a very close eye on the master of disguise.
“Scout... Scout...” Spy called out gently, patting the young man's cheek while doing so, but getting no response. “Eugene, wake up boy...” he tried again.
There was a hush that fell over the small group as all eyes turned towards Spy; Pyro tilted his head slightly in confusion.
“Vhat did you jus call him?” Medic questioned, looking just as lost as Pyro and now Engie as well.
Spy glanced up at the three pairs of eyes watching him before shaking his head and putting his attention back onto the young man. “Eugene open your eyes.” He continued. This went on for another ten minutes before Scout started showing any movements on trying to listen.
A whimper was heard before Scout started moving his head from side to side, his body squirming as he came to. “Ow...” he groaned then started slowly sitting up, reaching his hand up to rub the back of his head. “Did someone catch the number of that damn train?” he groaned again then opened his eyes. The first face he saw was one of a masked man. Worse than that... a masked man from RED team. “What The Hell?!” he hollered out, scurrying backwards a few feet before bumping into something solid. He looked up, seeing yet another masked man, this one a bit scarier but on a good note; this was his scary looking teammate. “What are you waiting for? Set his ass on fire!”
Pyro cocked his head, looking down at the youngest team member then shook his head.
“What?! Why the hell not??” Scout asked, flabbergasted. “I mean geez... It's Spy... He's...”
“Ze vun who voke you up und if you vould shut up for a moment und look avound...” Medic interrupted already wishing the young man was still unconscious.
“We ain't in Kansas anymore, kid...” Engineer finished, shaking his head. “And the Yellow Brick Road has disappeared.”
A mumbled, yet still loud sound of laughter filled the air. Heads turned towards Pyro who had his hands on his stomach, his body shaking with the laughter that could still be heard.
“Ummm... Okay... I guess the mumbling psycho finds that... umm... funny...” Scout pointed out, now moving several feet away from his teammate.
“Nein. He's not psycho... He's...” Medic looked over at Pyro who was still laughing then sighed audibly, “Vell... Mayve a little psycho.”
“Seriously Doc?” Scout questioned, earning a simple shrug from Medic as his answer.
Several minutes passed before Pyro calmed down giving the other men time to look around and scan the area.
“Vell... Ve can not stay here. Ve need to move if ve plan to stay alive.” Medic finally pointed out, gathering his things.
Heavy sighs and groans were heard as the others followed suit, each one wondering where or even which way to head to find any sort of life and or most importantly, food.
~**~
Hours upon hours of walking in moderate silence, rumbles started being heard throughout the group as well as the deep, raspy breathing coming from Pyro.
Medic cut his eyes over to Pyro, watching what he could see of the rise and fall of the fire burner's chest and listening closely to his breathing. Concern filled his every being before he finally stopped. “Pyro, take off ze mask.”
Pyro quickly shook his head and started backing away when Medic started towards him.
“Pyro...”
The other three men stopped walking as well, watching the scene before them as Pyro started shaking his head more vigorously now which in turn caused him to lose his balance, sending him down to the unforgiving ground below. He started mumbling so fast that nobody, including Medic, could understand him.
Medic's eyes grew wide, quickly joining Pyro on the ground, not even a foot away from him. “Pyro, please, take off ze mask... You vill be able to breath better.” he said, almost pleadingly.
Pyro still would not listen as he continued to shake his head, whimpering.
“Für die liebe Gottes! Es wird ihnen helfen, den atem!”
Pyro's head jerked up, his big thick goggles staring straight up at Medic before he mumbled out softly, “uh um iheah.”
Medic's eyebrows lifted, getting quiet momentarily before he responded, “Warum denkst du das?”
“Kah ah ahm.” Pyro answered sadly.
“Das ist egal. Sie müssen oder sind sie nur noch schlimmer.”
Pyro lowered his head, his raspy breath exhaling heavily. “Ah an oo ih.”
“Zhen let me help...” Medic offered, slowly lifting his hands then paused be asking for reassurance, “May I?”
Pyro nodded slowly, leaning closer to Medic as every muscle in his body tensed more so than they already were.
Taking a deep, calming breath, Medic reached for the bottom of the gas mask and as gently as possible, took the mask off the trembling fire starter. “Zhere... Zat vasn't so bad... Vas it?”
Gasps were heard throughout the group who had up until now stayed quiet, waiting patiently to see what was going to transpire between the two men.
Medic turned his head, glaring at the group, causing them to recoil and lower their heads. He turned back to look at Pyro, smiling as he had done so. “Don't mind zem... Zey are all Dummkopfs.”
Pyro grinned, keeping his head down low. “Can't blame them... Told you I was hideous.”
The older man felt his heart clench, hearing the sadness in the other man's voice. “Nein... You are not hideous... But iv you don't mind me asking... Vhat happened?”
Pyro started chewing his bottom lip, glancing up at Medic. “You already know... You were there Dr. Gottmund.”
Medic's eyes grew huge, mouth dropping open in astonishment. “It... It can't be... You vere ze junge.”
“The one you helped all those years ago... The only reason I'm alive today is because of you... If you hadn't of been there...”
The Doctor reached out, placing his hand on Pyro's gloved one. “I did vhat any decent person vould have done. It's in ze past. Now... You need to get out of ze suit too... Even zhough ze mask is off, you could still overheat.”
Pyro sighed, looking over at the rest of the group then nodded before he proceeded to take off his gloves then the rest of his asbestos-lined suit.
Getting up, Medic walked over to the other three men. “If anyvun of you says anyzhing zat hurts him... I vill hurt you in return... Got it?” He growled, his voice low enough for Pyro not to overhear him in his shuffling but his voice and the glare he was casting them all holding all the promise of his words.
“Geez Doc... We got it... We got it...” Scout quickly confirmed, raising his hands in the air in mock surrender.
“Ze boy's right. We won't say anything to ze mumbling, extra crispy freak.” Spy smirked, earning a quick smile from Scout and dual glares from Medic and Engineer.
“Spah... If he don't hurt you, I will.” Engineer said, waving his wrench at the masked man who in turn raised his hands just as Scout had done.
“It was a joke, gentlemen.”
“Und not a funny vun eizzer... vun more like zat und I will have no problem slowly sawing off your head und using it as a chamber pot.” Medic warned still glaring at Spy.
Spy's eyes widened, his adam's apple bobbing as he gulped. “I apologize.”
“What are you apologizing for?” Came a voice behind the men, causing them all to jump in surprise.
Medic quickly composed himself as he turned around, smiling. “Oh nuhzhing... Ve vere just talking.” He answered sweetly.
Pyro raised an eyebrow then looked at the others around, judging their expressions when Spy spoke up. “On ze contrary, dear friend, we were explaining to ze Doctor zat we were merely in shock zat you had actually taken off ze mask, nothing more.”
The fire starter simply nodded, not really believing the Spy then turned to Medic, “I'm thirsty...” He announced, biting on his bottom lip again then added, “and a little hungry too.”
Medic sighed, looking around the area they had stopped at then looked over at Engineer before asking, “Vell... Got any ideas?”
“We could always use the cactus juice to keep us hydrated...” Engie pointed out then twisted his lips in thought. “Not sure about food though...”
“I can handle zat.” Spy offered then turned towards Scout. “Find some wood we can use for a fire. Pyro, bring your ax an' follow me.”
Scout did a quick nod before taking off to complete the chore assigned to him.
Pyro, on the other hand looked over at Medic, not sure if he should be listening to the enemy Spy or not.
Distrust was apparent in his eyes, his hands tightening and loosening. “Very vell...” Medic finally said before looking back at Pyro. “See if you can help him But if he does anyzhing... ANYzhing zat upsets you... You have my permission to Kill him.” he concluded, glaring over at Spy with a tight, menacing grin.
Pyro nodded, grabbed his ax then went to stand in front of Spy. “Ready?”
~**~