Chapter Text
If you asked him point-blank, Spy would tell you he was not a man who lingers. He would pause, wait, and loiter with intent but never linger. Lingering was a risk he couldn’t take.
However, tonight, he found himself lingering outside of Engineer’s lab under the cloak of his Invis-Watch. In his hands, he held a broken sapper. He pensively stared at the device that had stopped working during battle that day.
Spy honestly had no idea why it had stopped working. One second, he was attaching the sapper to a dispenser, the next thing he knew, the Sapper had exploded off of the machine into his hands and the enemy Engineer immediately whirled around to cave in his head with a wrench. The animal. After that, the poor Sapper refused to work.
Unfortunately, Spy was dependent on all of his gadgets being in peak performance. He knew how to undertake maintenance on all of his devices. Spy, however, did not even know where to begin with fixing his sapper. Hence why Spy was lingering outside of Engineer’s lab.
As much as he hated asking for help from his contemporaries, this time, he needed the expertise of the Engineer. He just needed to swallow his pride and knock on the door.
He sighed and decloaked.
Quand le vin est tiré, il faut le boire . When the wine is drawn, it must be drunk. Or as his American colleagues said, in for a penny, in for a pound.
Spy knocked on the door to the lab.
“Just a second!” He heard the Engineer yell from inside.
Spy glanced down and brushed a near-invisible bit of dirt off of his lapel. He had a reputation to uphold and it wouldn’t do him any favours to show weakness to his coworker while looking dishevelled.
Engineer opened the door to the lab and Spy dropped his hand.
“Spy?”
“Apologies for bothering you so late, labourer. I was wondering if we could speak in your lab?”
“Yeah, sure. Come in,”
The door was opened wider and Spy stepped through into the lab.
“I was just doin’ some repairs,” Engineer explained as he shut the door. “Nothin’ too major, so don’t worry about it. How can I help?”
Spy turned to look at Engineer and held out his Sapper. Engineer wordlessly took it out of Spy’s hands and started looking it over.
“I attached it to a dispenser during the mission today and was met with an explosion,” Spy explained, following Engie as he walked over to a workbench and started getting tools out. “It is now broken. Does not react whatsoever to any machines,”
“Hmm…”
Engineer immediately grabbed a screwdriver and started unscrewing the back panel. Once it was off, he winced at the damaged and blackened circuit board. He gently removed it from the radio's casing and the ribbon cables and assessed the rest of the device.
Spy couldn’t help but notice how careful Engie was when handling the Sapper despite how big his hands were. Spy had seen this man annihilate enemies on the battlefield with little more than a wrench. For all intents and purposes, the delicate circuit board should be pieces in Engineer’s grasp, yet he held it with a gentleness unfamiliar to Spy.
Engineer let out a low whistle.
“It seems our friend across the river has started experimenting with the voltage in his dispensers,” He commented, looking up from the circuit to look at Spy.
“Do you think he has changed the power source for all of his machines?” Spy asked.
“It wouldn’t make any sense to do so. All of our machines are powered the same way. If he were to change the voltage, he would risk his dispensers and sentries self-destructing prematurely before they would be of any use,”
Engineer started stroking his cheek.
“Unlesss…” He murmured. “Did you happen to see anyone use that dispenser while you were there?”
Spy leant back and looked up at the ceiling, trying to recall the events of the day.
“Not that I recall,” He answered. “I did find it strange that he built two dispensers on two sides of the same room but assumed it was in error,”
Spy assessed the expression on Engineer’s face.
“Potentially my first mistake,” Spy commented.
Engineer hummed.
“Are you suggesting that the enemy Engineer built a decoy dispenser so he could destroy my Sapper?”
“It’s likely,” Engineer responded. “Might be worth reportin’ to the Administrator. After all, ain’t sabotaging someone else’s weapon against the rules?”
“Oui, it is,”
“In any case,” Engineer said with a stretch. “I can easily fix this. It’s just a matter of replacing the circuit board and rewiring it,”
“Do you have the parts?” Spy asked. “The Sapper uses–”
“A circuit board from a standard AM/FM radio with modifications to remove the speaker?” Engineer finished.
“Oui. How did you…?”
“Well, I’d be a pretty shitty Engineer if I didn’t know what a radio circuit board looks like,”
Engineer stood up and walked over to a shelving unit, removing a plastic tub with parts in it.
“Got all the parts I need right here,” He commented, placing the tub down and opening it. “You’re welcome to leave if you want. I can come find you when your Sapper is up and running again,”
Spy looked at the Engineer rifling through the box of radio parts.
Distantly, Spy recalled a lesson from when he was a lad starting in the espionage business. His mentor had sat him down and told him that any information could be worth its weight in gold. Even if the information would not further any contracts he’d been paid, just learning something new could help him blend in, escape, or better prepare for the future.
Spy had developed all sorts of skills over his career, from baking, sewing, and gardening, to the more obscure, such as operating phone lines, golfing, and toy making. However, as much as he was able to perform maintenance on his gadgets, the ins and outs were still a mystery to him – they might as well have been magic.
Right now, Spy saw a golden opportunity in front of him to learn more about mechanical engineering from one of the leading minds in the country. Most people would give their right arm to be in Spy’s position right now, he mused.
“Do you mind if I watch?” Spy asked.
“Knock yourself out. Although, I can’t promise I’ll be much of a conversationalist,”
Spy said nothing, moving to sit on a work stool pushed up against the bench. He looked over the array of circuit boards Engineer had pulled out until the man made an affirmative sound and pulled out a board almost identical to the old and blackened board.
“So, tell me, labourer,” He found himself saying. “Is there any way to increase the output to sap larger electronics?”