Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

– Friday –

The Badlands, New Mexico. 1968. It was just another dry heat, scorching breeze, bloodthirsty and ready to turn someone’s brains-into-paste kind of day.

Once again, another battle was taking place between the RED and BLU team.

Heavy was hiding out behind an old worn shed, clutching his side as he heaved. He coughed and spat blood into the dirt. He wasn’t really thinking about those things though. Even in the middle of a battle, his mind had a tendency to wander.

How long had he been fighting in this war? 3 months? 4? It hadn’t been long, especially compared to the rest of his team, some of whom had been there for a year or more; but it already felt like an eternity to him. All this bloodshed over some dirt, land, and money; was it really even worth it? Heavy felt like the only one who really thought about those sorts of things when it came to the job. The other mercenaries probably didn’t even understand what they were fighting for. Or they did, and just didn’t care thanks to the money they were given in exchange for their lives. Money was tempting, and so were the benefits that came with working under Reliable Excavation & Demolition (or RED for short), so who could really blame them for taking that chance? Even if it meant risking their lives for nothing?

But Heavy had other things to fight for, especially now. And he wasn’t just fighting for his life. Everytime he stepped out onto the battlefield, spent late nights prepping weapons for the next fight, died and respawned to protect a teammate from a stray rocket, or had to deal with the other mercenaries poking fun at him for his broken English; it was all for his family and the hopes that he’d make just enough that month to send them some money to get by. He cared for his mother and three sisters more than anything else in the world, and he was proud of that fact.

His mind snapped back to reality, as he shakily stood up to find himself cornered. He knew it as soon as he turned around to see a BLU Pyro coming in behind him. He sighed wearily, knowing he had no ammunition or backup nearby, and was much too tired and weakened to try punching his way out of the situation. He was practically half dead in the dirt at that point. So, he succumbed to the inevitable.

He woke up and found himself back in the cold respawn room.

Unfortunately, respawn didn’t make dying any less painful. He doubted he’d ever get used to the strange sensation of being brought back from death. Just as he stood up again, having fallen onto the hard tile, he heard the overhead speakers announce;

“Alert! Our last control point is being captured!”

“Mission ends in 10 seconds!”

He closed his eyes, knowing that they had lost. He was the only one left defending the control point that hadn’t been blown to pieces, and he was definitely not on it anymore.
Heavy braced himself for what would be the rest of a very rough day. Losing was unacceptable, but hearing the groaning and whining of his teammates (which he would most certainly have to listen to that night) would be unbearable. And annoying.

“I can’t believe we just freakin’ lost! AGAIN!” Heavy turned to see a very frustrated Scout appear next to him, no doubt having died trying to secure the control point before it was too late. While Heavy was not fond of his younger teammate he couldn’t help but sympathize with his frustration.

“I mean, where da’ heck was our Medic at? I was freakin’ dyin’ over there, and where was he? NOWHERE that’s where! God, this is so freakin’ stupid…” Scout’s voice quieted to frustrated swears and mumbles as he sat on the ground, arms crossed and scowling.

“Little man. We will try harder tomorrow. We will win.”

“Oh yeah big guy? What makes ya’ think that’ll happen? Our damn Medic ain’t doin’ nothin’, and we all’r dyin’, an’ it’s the fifth time this week! There ain’t gonna be no tomorrow for us if we ain’t winnin’!”

Heavy knew there wasn’t much point in trying to cheer the younger merc up, so they sat in silence while their teammates joined them in the respawn, all equally irritated at the terrible match they had that day. Their Medic came in last.

He did not like the Medic they had. It had only been a week since he had been recruited and it was clear he wasn’t meant for battle. He always managed to run and hide during the worst of every match since the day he had arrived. No doubt he would be fired soon, with enough complaints, and they would have to yet again find another Medic to fill his position. It disappointed Heavy the most, since he relied on the Medic to make the big push for every battle they had and secure the win. He knew this strategy well, but every Medic they’ve had for the past 4 months apparently did not, even after being informed. They were all keen on the ‘running and hiding like a coward’ strategy.

As the RED team trudged back to base, night began to fall quietly on the desert. It was especially hot that day, and Heavy was grateful for the cool breezes the evening usually brought. He missed his cold Siberian home, with his family, more than anything.
The desert was such a strong contrast to the tundra and every day that passed the more homesick he found himself being. It didn’t help that he was surrounded by surprisingly idiotic mercenaries, whom he did his best not to lower his guard around.
Heavy’s business was his own, and thankfully none of the mercs had tried his patience by trying to ask foolish personal questions, and he was more than happy to return the favor by asking none himself.

As the team finally entered the common area of the base, Demo settled himself into an old worn down sofa with scrumpy in hand, already drinking and looking like he was 2 seconds away from taking a long hard nap.
Scout and Pyro went straight to the foosball table Scout had “found” in the town of Teufort, probably having stolen it. Despite how different him and Pyro were, they held a strange bond over tabletop games.

Engineer went straight to the little kitchen they had to begin preparing for dinner. He seemed like the only one with some good cooking knowledge, and the only one trusted with the stove and oven. He was also really the only one Heavy enjoyed talking to, even if it were brief moments of hi, hellos, and how are you’s.

Spy, of course, was nowhere to be found. Snooping and hiding were his two main attributes, and he definitely wanted to hide after a day like that.
Sniper decided to head straight to his own camper van, away from the noise. Specifically the noise being caused by Soldier, who was having a great time ordering Demo to drop and give him 20 despite not realizing that Demo was out cold.

Despite all the hustle and bustle, Heavy did have a strange slight fondness for the common area. 4 months in, he became used to the welcoming aura the place had to offer. In some ways he could even imagine himself back at home, remembering the cozy feeling of sitting with others and chatting about whatever came to mind. It wouldn’t ever be the same, but he felt like he could get used to being here.

The Medic hadn’t arrived yet.

“Hey partner, could ya’ come help me in the kitchen?” Heavy looked up, realizing that the Engineer was calling out to him.

“Yes. I will help.”

Getting up slowly from his seat, Heavy made his way over to the kitchen. Anything to distract himself from the horrible battle the team just went through.

“I just needed some help with the preparation, if ya’ don’t mind Heavy.”

“Da. Of course.”

The two men quietly set to work, having already established this routine. Heavy was grateful for the quiet, Engineer no doubt knowing that Heavy needed it. Before too long, dinner was ready.

Bringing out his old cowbell, Engineer rang it and called, “Dinner’s ready boys! Come an’ get it!”

Sudden noise broke out as the mercs made a mad dash to the kitchen, and Heavy found himself amused by the bickering that broke out that was spearheaded by Scout, who came in first, as always. The kitchen lit up with noise as Soldier began shouting orders at the others in an attempt to keep the line moving. Engineer had to keep Pyro from getting too close to the oven, a lesson learned from past incidents. Once everyone had managed to get food, they slowly made their way back to the lively common area.

“An’ then- an’ then, he told me, ‘Ach, where’s me bloody hand at?’ As if he had lost his wallet ar’ somethin’! Bloodiest funnae’ thing ah’ had seen all day!” Demo said, breaking out into booming, teary-eyed laughter at his own strange story having forgotten he had told the exact same one the day before. Scout and Soldier joined in, laughing hard as they clutched the table to keep from falling out of their seats.

“What’d he say next Demo?” Scout asks with tears in his eyes.

“I got no bloody clue! Cause next thing ah’ knew, me own hand got chopped off!”

More uproarious laughter ensued despite Demo still having both hands. Heavy shook his head, not understanding the Scot’s odd sense of humor. The story didn’t seem nearly as humorous to him as it was to the others. Engineer merely chuckled at the conversation as he ate, with Pyro watching the group avidly. Heavy looked around as the group continued their talk, noticing the Medic still hadn’t arrived. He decided to see what the man was up to.
After he finished his meal, he made his way to the infirmary. While Heavy wasn’t one to check on his teammates, knowing full well they could take care of themselves, he couldn’t help but be a bit curious.

*Knock knock knock*

“.. who is it?”

“Is me, Medic. Heavy Weapons guy?”

“Oh great. Actually, could you come in and help me out?”

Heavy pushes the door open to see the Medic clearly packing up. He was a short and very lean man, nervously running his hand through his blond hair. He was in a hurry, as most of his things were already in boxes and moving equipment.

“Leaving?”

“Er.. yes, I am. Administrator’s orders. She was… less than pleased with me regarding my performance, and just now told me my replacement is ready to come in, so I was just…” He indicated to the boxes all around him, ”I just needed some help getting these into the transport truck…”

“Da. Will help little man with moving.”

“Thank you, Heavy.”

And so they got to work.

– 2 hours pass –

“I suppose that was the last of it.” Medic says, setting the last of the boxes down in the large truck and wiping his brow with his hand.

“Da. Now you go, yes?”

“Yes. Hopefully onto a less… violent job.” Heavy nods in reply. This doctor before him was not fit for mercenary life, no matter how alluring the money was, and leaving was for the best. Heavy sincerely hoped that their next Medic would be more reliable.

“Oh! Heavy! There you are.” A familiar voice caught his attention, and he turned to see a young woman dressed in formal purple clothing exiting the truck and jogging up to him, clipboard in hand.

“Hello, Miss Pauling. All is well?”

“Could be better, Heavy. I’m just glad me and the Administrator were able to find a new replacement so fast, it’s just been so hectic lately, with all the recent losses…” She took a deep breath. “But it’s fine. I’ve worked it out, and first thing tomorrow the new Medic should be here. I just wanted to let you know in advance.”

Heavy nodded solemnly. He was notified of every new Medic, so he could work out the battle plan with them first thing. Heavy had an important part to play with the whole process and at this point it was practically routine to him.

“That should be it... Oh! One more thing Heavy.” Miss Pauling flipped through the papers on her clipboard. “There is something you need to know about the new Medic. He’s a bit different from the last few ones, as you’ll find out soon. He made some… special requests, and I was wondering if maybe you could help him out tomorrow? With moving his “things?”” She said in a very mysterious tone.

He arched an eyebrow at her wondering what she meant, and as he was about to ask he noticed the truck with the now retired Medic leaving the base, interrupting him before the question could escape him. Not picking up on his confusion, Miss Pauling muttered to herself as she flipped through more papers, walking off and ending the conversation.

He thinks to himself that maybe it would be better not to ask.

– Saturday –

Waking up was always a bit of a challenge, and today was no exception. Groaning, Heavy gathered himself and climbed out of bed to prepare for the day. Hopefully this time he would be up before his teammates, specifically Scout, so he wouldn’t have to deal with any unwanted conversations. As he made his way down the small flight of stairs leading from his room to the main area, he suddenly remembered that the new Medic would be arriving that day, and according to what Miss Pauling had told him, it would be fairly early. Changing course, he made his way to the infirmary to see if he had missed the new arrival, and to his luck it appeared that he hadn’t arrived yet. Continuing up the stairs, he opened the doors and entered the large, cold room.

“What should I do in spare time…” Heavy pondered to himself. He noticed the messes left behind by the previous Medic, who had left in a hurry. The man didn’t have much time to clean up; he seemed pretty desperate to get out of there. But who could blame him, really? This isn’t a place for any normal man.

However, something told Heavy that he would not be meeting a normal man. As he cleaned the infirmary, he knew this deep down. Miss Pauling did make it a point that this new Medic was stranger than most, with the way she told Heavy about his special requests; whatever those were. It wasn’t out of character for her to withhold information, but something about it made Heavy wonder who this new mysterious arrival was, and what he would be like.

Little did he know, his questions would soon be answered.

“...ja, ja I know Miss Pauling, I am avare of ze rules… Und no, I von’t cut open anyone for organs! As long as you gife me enough cadavers und replacements…”

He perked up at this new voice. It was definitely a European accent, possibly German. Was this the new Medic?

“Medic, please, just follow the rules and you’ll be granted whatever you want, I’ve already told you, but you need to work with and help your teammates, not cut them open!” Another, more familiar voice was arguing with the other. It was clear that she had been telling him all this more than once by the exasperated tone in her voice.

“Ach, you are no fun Miss Pauling. I vill need to cut some of zhem open, it is necessary for mein work! If you vant zhem to be stronger zhen you must respect mein practices und vhat I am capable of!”

The doors to the infirmary opened, showing a very tired looking and unsettled Miss Pauling. Following after was the new Medic, a taller man with graying hair, small, circular wire frames sitting on his angled face. He had already donned the white doctor’s coat and red cross emblem.

“Oh Heavy! Wonderful, you two can get acquainted…” She set down a box filled with some deadly looking tools on the ground, stood up and had an air of very much wanting to leave. Picking up on her exasperation, he decided to help her out, “I take over Miss Pauling.” Heavy said. Gratefully, Miss Pauling gave him a weak smile and left with a sigh.

As the Medic watched her leave, he turned quickly to see Heavy standing there, who was a bit surprised by Miss Pauling’s sudden departure. “She did not wish to speak more?” Heavy inquired.

“Nein. I suppose cadaver talk is not for everyone!” A deadly smile crossed the doctor’s face. “And you are?”

Heavy started to help unpack what few boxes were brought in. “I am Heavy Weapons Specialist. Can just call Heavy.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Herr Heavy. Not everyday I meet anozer fellow European, ja?” He extended one of his gloved hands out, offering a handshake, which Heavy took.

“Da. Is true, nice to have someone different.” Heavy stated simply. He continued with the boxes. “Festhalten, Heavy. More zhings outside that I need help carrying!” Medic turned swiftly, and waved Heavy over. He then proceeded to speak quickly under his breath in an excited manner, too fast and quiet for Heavy to pick up. Among the mounds of boxes, was a very large bird cage.

“What is this doktor?”

A huge, warm smile breaks across Medic’s face, replacing the rather menacing cold one from earlier. “Zhey are mein doves! I vanted to get zhem inside before anyzhing, but zhat Miss Pauling vanted to show me to ze infirmary first. Zhey hafe been in zat cage for far too long, poor lieblinge…” The doctor then picks up and gingerly carries the cage back to the infirmary with him with Heavy in tow, carrying several large boxes.

Upon entering the infirmary, Medic opened the cage and a cascade of birds flew from it, more than Heavy had anticipated. “Ah, you all must hafe been so cramped in zhere…” Medic said gently to his birds, who crowded around him, landing on his shoulders and head. He seemed much nicer now than he did earlier especially when contrasted with the very bizarre conversation Heavy had overheard. As birds begin to settle across the infirmary, he set down the boxes and tools he had been carrying with him on a nearby counter.

“You seem very strong, Heavy. ” Medic says out of the blue.

Heavy nods appreciatively, wondering where this conversation is going to go.

“An excellent specimen really…perhaps I could run some experiments, ja?”

“What kind of tests doktor? I am unsure.” Heavy was used to the occasional check-up, but he guessed that this sort of test wasn’t going to be as conventional.

“Ach, just some regulär ones. Nozing to worry about.” The doctor said with a wave of his hand. As he rummaged through some of the boxes, he retrieved a very menacing bonesaw from one of them.

Heavy wasn’t often afraid, but this odd man made him feel a bit uneasy. It almost sounded like a threat, although it was hard to tell with his strange and constantly shifting demeanor. Medic set down what he had in his hands and turned to him, “Vell? Zhey really are simple tests! I need to do zhis with ze rest of ze team, und I really must be getting started. So much to do, so little time!” He didn’t appear very put-off by this fact, though. In fact, it seemed like a challenge to him.

“Coo!” A small white dove flew down from the rafters of the infirmary and landed gently on Heavy’s shoulder, looking at him with keen eyes. “Archimedes! Zhere you are!” The doctor strode over to retrieve the small bird, which flew to him and landed on his own shoulder. “He doesn’t often go to strangers…” He added curiously.

A moment of silence, then Heavy asked, “How did you get birds?”

Medic looked at him for a moment with slight surprise at the question which quickly turned into enthusiasm, “Vell, I suppose I can tell you. But it is a long story!” Hearing this, Heavy brought up a nearby chair to listen to the strange doctor tell his tale.

“You see, it vas many years ago. I vas still a doctor zhen,” Still? “But I had alvays had a softer spot for mein feathered friends. I vas attending a rather schick wedding, very fancy ja? I vas ze groom’s doctor, and he decided to invite me. I noticed zhey had a catering wagen, wiz ze birds inside prepared for ze wife und groom. However, I nefer trust zhese zhings. Zhey never treat ze birds right, I hafe seen it. So, I hotwired ze wagen, birds in tow, and waz chased for 20 miles at least!” He then broke out into giddy laughter, recounting the day with glee. Heavy couldn’t help but join in, laughing along.

Wiping tears from his eyes, Medic turned to Archimedes who still sat on his shoulder. He gave the bird a small scratch under the beak and sighed, “Ja, zhey hafe been ze light of mein life. Ve hafe all been through much togezer, especially mein Archimedes here.” The dove cooed in response.

“You have odd life doktor. Make for good stories.”

“I hafe many more vhere zhat came from I promise you!”

Translations:

Russian:
Da - Yes

German:
Ja - Yes
Mein - Mine
Wagen - Van
Lieblinge - Darlings
Schick - Elegant, posh
Und - And
Herr - Mr

Chapter Text

– Earlier that same Saturday –

“Remember what the conditions are, Medic.”

Medic looked up into the Administrator’s cold eyes. His newest employer. She was a steely, calculating woman, and behind her sat dozens upon dozens of surveillance screens all showing footage of ongoing battles, bases, and even what looked liked to be the inside of a vault. She let out a puff of smoke, then proceeded to draw in another breath from her cigarette.

“Ja. I am avare of ze rules, Administrator.” Medic replied. While this rather intimidating woman was imposing, it wasn’t anything unlike his previous employers. He knew what to expect with people like this.

“Good. Because I’m all out of patience to repeat myself twice, so don’t expect me to answer any pointless questions.” Her gaze then shifted to the young woman who had just entered the room.

“Pauling, I want you to take him to the base immediately. I’ve already wasted too much time here.” As the Administrator turned back to her screens and paperwork, Medic looked over to see a young woman in a purple suit. This must have been Miss Pauling, who was holding what looked like his very own uniform. He would have no issues with these new employers, as long as he got what he asked for…

“Alright Medic, I have your coat here for you.” She handed it to him, which he promptly took and looked over, seeing the red cross emblem on the sleeves.”Now that the Administrator went over everything with you and your… accommodations, is there anything she left out? I handle most of the shipments for things, weapons, food, tools, and I still need to make my order this week. So, if there’s something else you need, you can let me know.” Miss Pauling said to him as the two of them exited the Administrator’s dark office.

He pondered this. The Administrator did make a small mention about his precious cadavers, extra organs, and the special equipment he’d requested. But it didn’t hurt to ask for extras.

“I vill need more organs. Und bodies. Plenty of blood as vell. As soon as possible!”
Miss Pauling gave him a look, “Uh, Medic, you do realize we-” He cut her off, putting up a hand to stop her.

“I am avare that I am being paid to help ze ozers on mein team, but I took this job for mein experimentation as vell! You fund me vith everyzhing I need und zhen some, und in return I do everyzhing you ask of me! Ve made zhis clear!” He was frustrated with her ignorance on this very important matter. He already had this argument with the Administrator, jumping to defend himself and his true intentions.

“I don’t understand what you need all this for, Medic, but I wasn’t going to question you. I was just letting you know we’re getting you what you need, it's just… it's going to take a while. I mean, getting you extra food or water is one thing but… getting more blood and bodies for your experiments takes much longer.”

The doctor became even more annoyed at this. He was told to get to work as soon as he could (which he was eager about, mind you), but was then informed that it would be a while before he could get everything he needed to even begin his process! Did they take him for some sort of amateur?

“Miss Pauling, zis is most outrageous! I cannot vork in zhese conditions! Ze both of you promised me I vould get everyzing I needed!”

“You will Medic. Just not right now. ” The two of them made it to the transport truck, but their bickering didn’t let up until they eventually made it to the RED base, night turning to day with the cool night breezes staving off in place of the dry heat of the early morning.

Medic took a moment to observe the outside of the wooden exterior of the base as they approached it steadily, noting how unstable it seemed with the random explosion marks and potholes surrounding the creaking wood foundations. Compelling and quaint!

Miss Pauling got out of the vehicle, exhausted from her long winded arguing with him. “Okay Medic, if you’ll follow me I’ll show you to the infirmary. Then you can get everything all set up.” She began walking along, with the doctor following suit, “Just- refrain from doing any surgeries until you get everything okay? I looked at your… background, and we just want you to follow all the rules we laid out-”

“Ja, ja I know Miss Pauling, I am avare of ze rules, I hafe said zhis already. Und no, I von’t cut open anyone for organs! As long as you gife me enough cadavers und replacements…” They walked along the inner halls of the building, once again continuing their roundabout argument. Medic wanted to see if she would give him a different answer this time, or if it would be another trivial one.

“Medic, please, just follow the rules and you’ll be granted whatever you want, I’ve already told you, but you need to work with and help your teammates, not cut them open!”

Miss Pauling clearly did not want to answer the same questions he had been pressing, but he was persistent. He also enjoyed messing with her; she just didn’t need to know that part.

“Ach, you are no fun Miss Pauling. I vill need to cut some of zhem open, it is necessary for mein work! If you vant them to be stronger zhen you must respect mein practices und vhat I am capable of!” She didn’t reply to this, tired from their arguing.
Medic then looked around and realized that he was finally at the infirmary.
The doors opened to reveal a cold, semi-sterile room with high glass ceilings, which was interesting for a room like this, and a large door to the outside on the other end. No doubt future deliveries would come through that way. White cabinets and counters lined nearly every wall in the room, save for a few shelves, bookshelves, a large fridge, and an old armchair. In the middle of the room stood a very well used operating table, still stained from past surgeries.

The two of them were not alone when they entered, as there was another person inside. A rather large, imposing man was cleaning, and looked up to see the both of them entering the room.

“Oh Heavy! Wonderful, you two can get acquainted.” Medic watched her drop off some of his tools. She seemed pretty exasperated.

“I take over Miss Pauling.” The man said to her, picking up on her desire to leave. The two men then watched her exit the way she came. He then turned to the man before him, who appeared thoroughly confused by her sudden departure.

The man asked, “She did not wish to speak more?”

Medic shrugged. “Nein. But I suppose cadaver talk is not for everyone!” He felt himself smile at this. He took odd pleasure in scaring people off.
But this man before him didn’t seem like the type to scare easily. Didn’t hurt to try…

“Und you are?”

The bigger man answered swiftly, “I am Heavy Weapons Specialist. Can just call Heavy.” He had already begun to unpack some of Medic’s things, making quick work of it and placing the contents on the counter in an organized way.

The doctor felt a bit of surprise at his Russian accent, expecting an American one, “Pleasure to meet you Heavy. Not everyday I meet anozer fellow European, ja?”

“Da. Is true, nice to have someone different.”

“Festhalten, Heavy. More boxes outside zhat I need help carrying!” He waved Heavy over, leading him to the truck he arrived on. He had suddenly remembered something and began to speak quickly under his breath, “Vait- mein birds! Ja, of course! Ach, how could I have forgotten zhem… zhey should be fine but I must get zhem now, zhey hate being in zhose wagens…”

“What is this doktor?” Heavy nodded towards the bird cage next to him. Medic couldn’t help but smile widely.

“Zhey are mein doves! I vanted to get them inside before anyzhing, but zhat Miss Pauling vanted to show me to ze infirmary first. Zhey hafe been in zat cage for far too long, poor lieblinge…” Carefully, he made his way through the boxes to get his precious doves. He was silently grateful that they were allowed as part of the ‘special accommodations’ he requested. His employers needed his skills and he knew it, so they were very lenient with what he requested.

The two men made their way back, both carrying whatever they could hold. Medic walked swiftly along not paying attention to whether or not Heavy was even still following. The doors to the infirmary barely opened when the doctor released the birds, bunches of feathers bursting from the cage and littering the floor.
“Ah, you all must hafe been so cramped in zhere…” He said sympathetically to the birds now crowding around him. He hated having to coerce them into their cage, knowing they’d much rather be free, but it was the only means by which he could transport them safely.

Then, he remembers that he isn’t the only one in the room again. Heavy stands there, clearly surprised by the amount of doves that had emerged from the cage. Medic takes a moment to assess the weapons specialist, noticing his visible size and strength. He seems like a willing subject. Perhaps I should ask about running some tests…

“You seem very strong, Heavy. An excellent specimen really…perhaps I could run some experiments, ja?”

“What kind of experiments doktor? I am unsure.”

“Ach, just some regulär ones. Nozing to worry about.” Medic was used to this uneasiness when it came to his patients. If anything, he felt glee at knowing he was somewhat intimidating. He decides to then investigate some of the boxes that Heavy had just set down, observing the new tools inside and removing a brand new bonesaw. This will do nicely!

He set it down carefully, and felt inclined to reassure Heavy as a way to try and persuade him into it, “Vell? Zhey really are simple tests! I need to do zhis with ze rest of ze team, und I really must be getting started. So much to do, so little time!” It was going to be a lot of work, handling so many new patients, but work was what he loved. One of the things he prided himself on was his dedication to his duties, and this job was nothing but another new challenge to him.

“Coo!”
“Archimedes! Zhere you are!” His favorite dove, (which he would never admit to the others out loud), came soaring down from the rafters. To his surprise, the dove landed on Heavy’s shoulder rather than his own.

“He doesn’t often go to strangers…” Walking over, he retrieved the bird from the other man’s shoulder.

What could this mean? This is certainly a first. Archimedes would never go near someone besides myself if he didn’t have some trust… this is most interesting indeed. I just wonder-

“How did you get birds?”

An interruption of his thoughts. Medic snapped back and looked over at Heavy. The doctor couldn’t help but be curious about this man and thought it would be worth it to humor his question. “Vell, I suppose I can tell you. But it is a long story!”

He told the bigger man his tale, remembering those times of his youth fondly. All the trouble he got himself into! He couldn’t help but flash back to that day, recalling the shocked faces of the crowd, the look of surprise on the bride and groom as he stole their entire catering van, birds and all. It was certainly a very eventful day.

What would I do without my birds? Medic had no regrets for what he did. He sighed, petting Archimedes.

“You have odd life doktor. Make for good stories.”

Medic grinned at this, “I hafe many more vhere zhat came from I promise you!”

– 2 hours later –

“... you von’t believe vhat happened next!” Medic found himself telling his most humorous stories in answer to several questions Heavy had. What are those tools for? Where did you get that petrified baboon heart? Why do you have an award for best autopsy? All wonderful questions. He couldn’t help but indulge in them!

“What happened doktor?”

“Oh gott, he practically beat me over ze head wiz it! I mean, it vas quite rude hitting your doctor wiz your own femur! Anyvays, zat is how I vas kicked out of Katharinen hozpital. Ze doctors zhere vere total dummkopf, so I hafe no regrets really.” He vividly remembered that day. At that point, he had already been kicked out of 3 other hospitals in the region, and was one more hospital away from losing his license. Which he lost eventually. But he never liked to dwell on past incidents much, as he’d much rather focus on doing far more exciting things in the present.

“Your stories, they are very strange doktor. But funny.” Heavy didn’t seem nearly as put-off by Medic’s story as the doctor thought he would. Which was actually quite nice.

“Ah, vell, mein life is strange, so all mein stories are strange. Still, it is wunderbar!” Medic sighed happily. But something felt off. As if he'd forgotten something very important.

Then, he remembered that he was meant to be taking vital signs, notes, and doing tests on the entire team.

“Ach! I am behind!” He said frantically, looking to see how much time had been wasted. 2 hours! He couldn’t believe himself! How could he have forgotten?

Heavy looked at him, slightly concerned, “Behind on vhat doktor?”

Slight panic seemed to overcome Medic, “Mein tests, du Narr! Mein tests! I vas meant to do zem today und I hafe already lost time!”

He immediately began sorting tools out of boxes and getting his operation table prepared. “Heavy, get on ze table! I must do zis quickly!” Heavy obliged, getting up from his seat to lay on the table. He seemed clearly disheartened by the abrupt change in conversation, but Medic wasn’t the least concerned. He had humored the man enough. Now he had work to do.

“First, I must take your vitals.” He began setting up an impressively old BP monitor that was sitting near a cabinet, taking temperature, pulse, and blood pressure.

“What about past vitals? Records?” Heavy asked.

“Ach, useless, I need mein own notes. I trust no doctor but myself!” Heavy arched an eyebrow at that but said nothing, letting the doctor do what he needed to do.

The seconds turned into minutes, and finally Medic was done.
“You are free to go, Herr Heavy. I vill need to do check-ups every veek, I vill let you know when I need zhem next. Now shoo! I hafe more of you to test!” Medic ushered him out of the office, all friendliness abandoned. Heavy frowned at him, but again, said nothing. 


Once he was alone, he took a few notes as he sat at an empty countertop, waiting for the others to begin slowly making their way to the infirmary. Not even 10 minutes had passed until a loud-mouthed younger man came in.

“Heya doc. Heard ya needed to see me? I mean, I ain’t surprised. I’m kinda a big deal around here. The name’s Scout. You can also probably tell that I’m, like, super fit too. I don’t mean to brag but-” He seemed to talk a million miles a minute, so Medic promptly cut him off.

“Herr Scout vas it? I vill need you to shut up. Now sit on ze operating table. I need to do some tests.” Deterred in his rambling, Scout huffed at this and sulked as he let the doctor do his thing.

That didn’t stop him from trying his best to break the silence again, “Aw c’mon doc, I’m just makin’ friendly conversation!”

“Vell zhis ‘doc’ needs to concentrate.”

As if on cue, Archimedes flew over and landed on Medic’s shoulder, interested in him drawing blood from Scout’s arm.

“What tha’ hell, you got birds in here? Ain’t that, er, what’s tha’ word… un-samitary? Sana- santashairy?”

“ Sanitary, dummkopf… ” Medic muttered under his breath.

“Well jeez doc, sor-ry!” Scout said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.


Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Medic to get what he needed from him and he was out the door. Unfortunately, the next few mercenaries would be no less talkative. A few minutes after Scout had left, an extremely bombastic and clearly drunken man came stumbling in. How in the world could someone be this drunk this early in the morning?

“Ah, yer tha’ new doctor! Hopefully ya ain’t gonna be as cowardly as tha’ last one, aye?” The man quickly made it known that he was the demoman of the group, having dropped a rather menacing stick of dynamite on the ground and shoving it back into his pocket hastily. Taking a swig of his drink, he laid on the operating table with little grace.

“... I suppose. I vill just be taking your blood, oxygen levels, ozer vitals-”

“Doc, I don't think tha’ takin’ me blood is necessary. Me blood is mostly jus’ alcohol.”

“I highly doubt zat.” Deep down Medic knew this man was right and probably had more liquor in him than anything else, but he wasn’t willing to admit it. Perhaps he should offer him a second liver.

Somehow, Soldier was louder than the last two combined. Everytime he talked it was as if he thought he was in a wind tunnel and Medic couldn’t hear him, so he yelled every other word to make it clear that he was indeed talking.

“MEDIC! I am ordering you to take all my guts, replace them with guns, and make me stronger!”

Mildly annoyed already, Medic said, “I vould only replace your organs with ozer organs, Herr Soldier. Preferably baboon organs.”

“Son, I am 2 SECONDS AWAY from adding you to my head collection! I gave you an ORDER!”

“Soldier I am going to tell you zhis one more time; I am not going to replace your organs wiz  weaponry. It vhould be… ahem, un-American?” Soldier had constantly boasted about his patriotism during the entire duration of the check-up. Medic quickly learned how to use it to his advantage.

“UN-AMERICAN? Son, I am the proudest goddamned American you will ever meet! I could out-American any one of these maggots! Don’t you ever forget it!” Medic doubted he would, as his ears were still ringing even after Soldier had left the room.


The other mercenaries weren’t nearly as ear-piercing, to Medic’s relief. Sniper and Spy were definitely not keen on having to deal with a check-up, but they were fine all the same. Medic had to make note of certain things, such as Sniper’s mild complaints of back pain and Spy’s issues with smoking, but they were easily fixable.

The team’s Pyrotechnician came bounding in after the two much quieter men were finished. They appeared enthusiastic to see a new face, although it was hard to tell with their mask.

“Mmmmph! Mmm!”

“Er, vhat vas zhat again, Frau- Herr-... er, Pyro?” Medic was trying to draw blood, but Pyro didn’t seem happy about having to take off any part of their asbestos-lined suit. It was difficult to make out what they were saying, but Medic could tell what they felt based on their tone.

“Mmph!” They crossed their arms and shook their head, keeping themselves away from the needle.

“Pyro, I need to take your blood. It vill be quick, I promise.” Medic wasn’t the best at reassuring his patients, but if he wanted to get what he needed he had to learn compromise.

Eventually Pyro complied, still pretty upset about it. Their glum was cleared up quickly when Medic offered one of his doves to pet, which Pyro was absolutely delighted about.


The team Engineer came in last, and while running the tests he seemed very intrigued by a pile of blueprints Medic had brought with him when he first arrived at the base. They were all drawn up for his latest and possibly greatest creation; the Medigun. A pinnacle of engineering and modern medicine, it had the potential to speed up the natural healing process of the body. With enough work, it could repair practically any injury in mere seconds! Broken bones, which would usually take months upon months of work to heal, could be fixed in no time at all!

Medic took his time describing some of the details of the Medigun to Engineer, whom Medic had deemed trustworthy enough to tell. The man listened with great interest.

“This is some mighty fine technology doc. I certainly wouldn’t mind givin' you a helpin’ hand with it.” He said, looking over the blueprints.

“I vould appreciate it. I vanted to do it all mein self but… I suppose I can trust you a little bit wiz zhis.”

“It ain’t no problem doc. I can get it all worked out for ya’ real easy. We just need to get in contact with the Administrator, see about gettin’ some supplies and such for your new weapon here.”

“Ach, zhis is no weapon! Zhis is more zhan any weapon! It von’t shoot bullets, it requires no ammunition, und it vill be incredible! I promise you, it vill be wunderbar!.”

Engineer chuckled, “Hehe, I gotcha doc. You can just leave the heavy liftin’ to me. We’ll need to take a few days to build it, so I’ll also need to see about maybe gettin’ us a break from the fightin’, so we don’t have to worry about doin’ both at the same time. I’ll just need some copies of the blueprints to get started.”

Medic begrudgingly gives Engineer copies of the blueprints, threatening him not to show a soul. He couldn’t have one of his greatest accomplishments wind up in the hands of someone who would no doubt take advantage of it. Engineer smiled and reassured him, leaving Medic alone with his own notes and findings.

“Vhat a long day Archimedes. But I got it all done wiz time to spare.” Medic turned to his precious bird, who cooed back at him. Reading through his notes once more, he made sure to keep watch of certain things now that he had gotten to know his fellow teammates and their conditions. Demo’s missing eye and massive alcohol intake… Spy’s smoking… Engineer’s fascinating robotic hand… he couldn’t wait to study them all further.

Looking through it all he couldn’t help but think about all the ways he could enhance them, make them stronger, faster. They were all blank slates in his mind, waiting for a master artist to make them into perfect works of art. All he needed was time, patience, and plenty of experimentation.

“I vill make zhem all into gods.” He whispered, as if it was some quiet promise.


Translations:

German:
Festhalten - Hold on/Hold tight (Walten means wait, but festhalten works too)
Lieblinge -  Darlings
Dummkopf - Idiots
Wunderbar - Wonderful
Du Narr - You fool
Wagen - Van
Frau - Mrs
Herr - Mr

Chapter Text

– Later that afternoon - Still Saturday –

The team had all found themselves in the common area of the base, warm light leaking in through windows and cracks in the walls. Pyro and Scout were reading some comics near the television, having a mild argument about something. Spy was leaning against a wall, smoking, and doing what seemed to be relaxing. Demo and Soldier were off somewhere else, the both making a cacophony of noises outside that were a mixture of explosions and yelling. Engineer, Heavy, and Sniper sat together at the large table, sharing drinks and talking, illuminated by a low-hanging ceiling lamp.

“The new doc is pretty interestin', aye?” Sniper said.

Heavy agreed with Sniper on that one, “Da. Nice to talk to. Told many good stories.” Sniper and Engineer turned to stare at him.

“What, he talked to ya’? He barely spoke a word ta’ me, to be honest.” Sniper replied, “I mean, not that I’m complaining.” The Australian wasn’t one for talking, especially with those he didn’t know well. He could relate to their new Medic.

“Well, he’s still gettin’ used to us son, it’s natural to be reserved. But he talked to you a lot, Heavy?” Engie asked.

Heavy nodded, “Yes, doktor was very talkative to me. Once I asked question or two, he talked much more. Talked for hours. Was interesting.”

“It sure is mate. The doc barely looked me in the eyes the whole time, so I wager yer right Engineer. We were all kinda stiff our first few days. Just wonderin’ why he was so chummy with you out of all’a us.” Sniper pondered.

Heavy didn’t respond. In a way, he felt a bit proud of being able to talk to Medic so easily. He knew how hard it was being friendly with people he barely knew, and Medic didn’t seem like the kind of man to make friends on a whim. This made him think, though, about what made him so special as to knock down some of those proverbial walls.
As if on cue, Medic strode into the common area. Scout and Pyro looked up from what they were doing to stare at him. Spy merely arched an eyebrow but said nothing. Engineer took this as a chance to invite him over to sit at the table, “Hey doc! Come and take a seat with us.” He offered kindly. Medic already had an awkwardness to him as soon as he entered the room, clearly outside his comfort zone. He could probably do a liver transplant with his eyes closed, but had to work up the courage to even attempt socialization.

“Herr Engineer, I mustn't. I just… came down for food.”

“Well we got some food with us right here doc.” They had some snacks with them at the table, and Heavy instinctively moved over to make room. Medic begrudgingly made his way over and sat next to him. He began drumming his fingers on the table.

Sniper decided to switch the topic of conversation to something other than Medic, “So uh, Engie, how are my new scopes comin’ along? I wanted to give em’ a try, y’know, maybe sometime tomorrow.”

“Well son, it’s taking some time. But I’ll get it done.” Heavy and Medic sat in silence, but thankfully not uncomfortable silence. Heavy decided to try and initiate a little conversation anyway.

“Doktor, how have things been with tests? Teammates not too difficult?” Medic got startled, not expecting the sudden question. He seemed a bit out of it.

“Vell, I certainly vas not expecting the Soldier to ask me about replacing all his organs wiz guns.” The doctor made a very annoyed expression at this, but Heavy’s face broke out into an amused smile. “That is смешной, very funny doktor.”

“Hehe, ja, most ridiculous request really. But it did get me zhinking…”

Heavy furrowed his brows and stared at him with concern, “Uh. Doktor, you are not considering it? Right?”

“Oh goodness no, Herr Heavy, vas only joking! Haha!” What an unconvincing laugh. Heavy couldn’t help but smile again. This doctor was something else.

“What are you two jabbering on about over there?” Engineer and Sniper had been watching the two have their odd little exchange. Scout, Pyro and Spy weren’t paying any mind to the others in the room, going back to what they were doing.

“Just talking.” Heavy replied. Engineer and Sniper exchanged glances, neither one really saying anything. Breaking the short silence, Demo and Soldier came in from outside, covered in soot, dirt, and what was very clearly blood. Medic instantly went to the both of them to scold them for playing with explosives, bringing out a small medipack. He was back in his element again.

Not too long after, Scout started whining about dinner, and the mercs all agreed to make something nice for their new and hopefully last Medic.

Once everyone was settled with food, Medic returned to Heavy’s side.

As the team slowly made their way through food, drinks, and conversation, they all trickled back to their rooms one by one. Scout was first, as always, somehow making everything into a race. Sniper went next, but instead of moving deeper into the base he went outside to his camper. Spy disappeared soon after, not wanting anyone to bother or follow him. Pyro, Engineer, Soldier and Demo left as a small bumbling group, leaving Heavy and Medic alone. The two were once again deep in their talk, a repeat from the morning.

“Have things been okay so far, doktor?”

Medic seemed a bit irritable and frowned at the question. It seemed the friendliness from earlier had worn off, no doubt all tired out from having to talk to the other mercs.

“Ja. Everyzhing haz been fine. Ozer teammates hafe been noisy.”

Heavy nodded, noticing the sharp tone of Medic’s voice. They were talking rather well not too long ago, but it seems that the sociability he had earlier was faked as a way to cover up the underlying tiredness.

He knew the doctor was probably looking for an excuse to leave, seeing how he looked ever so slightly down the hallway. Medic was a surprisingly easy person to read.

“Doktor seems tired. Should go sleep?”

Medic looked at him briefly with the clear expression of ‘ yes please let me leave’ written all over his face.

“Go. I will clean common area. You get rest.”

He left swiftly, taking the opportunity Heavy had offered. He stood up as well, grabbed a broom, and took his time cleaning the common area. He enjoyed cleaning; it got his mind off things or helped him recollect his thoughts. Nobody really liked staying behind to clean either, so he was usually alone. He felt his mind wander, back to his homeland, his family. He missed them everyday still… he had to remember to write. It was unfortunate that sending letters and receiving them was hard, as the Administrator had to ensure there was no trickery afoot with the letters. Who knew what enemies the RED team had accumulated? Miss Pauling definitely knew, seeing as she was tasked with making sure to silence most of them.

Still, it was worth it to send those heartfelt letters and even more so to finally get some back. They were small pieces of home, gentle writings of his sisters and mother wishing him well, asking if he was safe, if he was happy. He kept them close to his heart, their written words of love comforting him.

In no time at all, the common area had been cleaned up for tomorrow. Heavy sauntered back to his room, fell onto his bed, and slept well.

– Sunday –

“RISE AND SHINE LADIES! FRONT AND CENTER!” Soldier’s magnified voice was echoing through the wooden halls of the base, amplified by the intercom system that he unfortunately had access to. He loved screaming his teammates awake, doing this nearly every morning (or when he remembered).

Heavy groaned and rubbed his hand, which was now a bit bruised. He woke up so startled that he accidentally punched a hole in the wall, which he would now have to get fixed…
Sitting all the way up, he proceeded to put on his uniform not really caring about showering. He was too frustrated already, what with his slightly hurt hand and Soldier yelling nonsense.

Making his way up the stairs he saw Pyro emerge from one of the doors down the hallway, who glanced both ways and saw Heavy approaching.

“Mpph! Mmm mmph!” Pyro came skipping up to Heavy happily, carrying a book with them.

“Privet, Pyro. What do you have?” Heavy asked them. Pyro waved the book around excitedly and showed it to him. It looked like a book filled with facts about… the worst fires in history. Not all that surprising really.

Pyro showed some of their favorite pages, with illustrated images of things like the Peshtigo Fire, the Great Fire of 1910, and the 1921 Mari wildfires. There were scribbles of rainbows and ponies all over the book, sometimes with small hearts on what seemed to be Pyro’s favorite pages. Heavy merely grimaced at them, who kept ranting about some particularly gruesome fires. He couldn’t understand the arsonist very well, but he felt inclined to try and listen to them anyway.

Suddenly, Spy appeared next to the both of them. Pyro made a startled noise and dropped the book, and Heavy grumbled at him.

“Good morning.” Spy said with a smirk.

“Spy, you must stop sneaking up like that.”

Spy chuckled, “It’s part of my job description Heavy.”

“Scaring people is not job.” Heavy didn’t like Spy very much. He took pleasure in spooking people wherever possible, intimidating them, or just being an overall nuisance.The only other merc that liked pranks was Scout, who also enjoyed taking any opportunity he could to be a menace. It wasn’t the only trait the two of them shared, but Heavy wasn’t about to get on Spy’s bad side so early by mentioning it.

“On the contrary, my large friend.” He pulled out his cigarette container with lighter in hand. Pyro instantly brightened up, watching the flame avidly.

“I must be going now. Au revoir.” He then cloaked, slipping off to who-knows-where, leaving as quickly as he had arrived. All that was left was a small trail of smoke. Pyro had picked up their book again, but didn’t seem to want to continue their chat with Heavy after being startled.

The rest of the day went by with ease. The mercs had been informed of their week-long break, granted to them by the Administrator. She told them it was due to some new developments being made. Nobody asked any questions about it though; they were all equally grateful to take a long rest after their 5-day losing streak. Scout took the opportunity to try challenging as many of his teammates to a race as possible. His first and only attempt was halted immediately, as his constant bragging and insults earned him a swift scrumpy bottle to the head by Demo. This earned some loud laughter by Soldier and Sniper. Scout didn’t try anything after that, sulking off to do something else.

Heavy decided to do something he hadn’t been able to for the last few days, which was read one of his favorite books. He’d read through most of his extensive library and was waiting for some new novels he’d asked for to arrive with the weekly shipment, and when he did have to wait he always found himself reaching for that one special book on his shelf.

An older novel, titled ‘A Hero of Our Time’ was a psychological book, telling the tale of a cruel and cynical army officer. It was a rather rough book, as it went into painstaking details about the evils of being self-centered and manipulative, but it was one that made Heavy think hard every time he read it. In a way, it helped him see others in a more complex light. And as short as the book was, it was the notes he wrote and the things he thought about that managed to keep him coming back to it.

Emerging from his room, he decided to make his way to one of his favorite spots in the base. Traveling up the stairs, book in hand, he entered a small hallway with a small nook at the end. An old worn couch sat there, basking in the warm mid-afternoon glow of the sun shining through the stained window. However, the couch was not unoccupied.

Medic, who also had a book of his own, was sitting there reading peacefully. He looked up, feeling the presence of Heavy standing in the hallway.

“Ah, Herr Heavy. Iz zhere somezhing you need? Or did Herr Soldier lose his hand in a fight wiz Pyro again?” By looking at Medic’s half-lidded gaze, he had already grown tired due to whatever he had dealt with that day.

“Нет, doktor. Was just coming here to read, this is usual spot for me.” He held up the book in his hand to show him.

“Ach, I see. I didn’t know-”

“It is ok. Perhaps I could join you?”

Medic raised an eyebrow at that. He nodded a little reluctantly, and Heavy sat down on the other side of the couch. He leaned back, crossed one leg over the other, and opened his book. While he was surprised to have someone else visit the little paradise he had away from the noise of the main floor, his surprise vanished in place of curiosity when he realized it was Medic.

From what he had observed so far, he was not a man who enjoyed much interaction, and maybe even hated it, escaping to empty corners of the base when he could if he found he wasn’t able to hide in the infirmary. It didn’t take Heavy very long to figure it out and he knew that Medic would appreciate the silence. So, he and Heavy sat in a calm quiet, with the occasional flip of a page or creak of a shifting floorboard interrupting it.

The hours went by quickly, day turning to night, and Heavy found himself being raised out of his reading haze by some snoring next to him. Medic had slumped over and fallen asleep. Maybe he was even more tired from yesterday than he had let on. Now that he was able to get a good look at the man, he did have very noticeable eyebags. He didn’t want to wake the doctor, but with the limited knowledge and assumptions Heavy had of him, he knew that he probably wouldn’t be happy if he woke up, body aching after being in such an uncomfortable position.

Heavy reached out gently and shook him awake.

“Snrk- mhhwha? Was ist los?”

“Wake up doktor. Is evening now.”

“Urgh…” Medic rubbed his neck, blinking tiredly, “Hm. Danke. Vould not vant to sleep all night here.”

“Is why I wake you. Also, time for dinner.”

Medic’s face seemed to light up a little, “Dinner is not a bad idea.”

The two stood up, gathering what they had and making their way downstairs. They didn’t talk as much as they did the day before, but it still felt like a rather meaningful interaction.

– Monday –

Heavy woke up a bit easier the next day, thankfully due to the fact that he was spared from hearing the loud, obnoxious voice of Soldier on the intercom.

After a decent breakfast, Heavy decided to take a brief walk around the base as a way to occupy his time. He didn’t need to maintain his large minigun, Sasha, or prep any of his other weapons just yet. As he walked past the Engineer's workshop, he heard the familiar voice of Medic talking about something with the Texan. Heavy decided to check in on the two, curious about what they were up to.
He knocked, and then stepped into the workshop, where he saw Medic and Engineer in deep conversation. The shop was littered with grease stains, old and new explosion marks, and worn down tools of all shapes and sizes. Hundreds of blueprints, notes and writings covered the walls, which were illuminated by several small lamps and lights in the room. He immediately felt guilty about possibly interrupting whatever it was they were talking about, but before he could turn to leave he heard Engineer call out to him, “Howdy Heavy! Could ya give us a hand with somethin’?” Medic looked wary at first but became more relaxed now that he saw it was Heavy who had entered.

“Da, of course. What can I help with?” Heavy walked over to them. Engineer and Medic exchanged glances.

“I meant to come find ya earlier, but I was gonna ask for some of your advice on this new device we’re buildin’.” Heavy gave him a bit of a confused look.
“Engineer, this is your oбласть знаний da?” Engineer looked puzzled. Heavy couldn’t remember what the term was in English, but with some thought he said, “I mean, it is your job? What could I help with that you do not know already?”

“While I do know my fair share of weaponry, son, you’re still the most knowledgeable one about it. See, we’re developing a new ‘gun’, which we’ve decided to call the Medigun, but instead of it bein’ able to fire bullets it shoots out this… healin’ ray of sorts, an’ we wanted you to oversee and help us test it. It’s some big equipment, so if you could give us some advice on how to handle it that’d be great.”

Heavy knew something was up. Engineer wouldn’t ask for something so trivial. The man had 11 PhDs, surely he could help Medic figure out something like this without the extra assistance?

“Hm. I am not sure I will be much help, have never seen this… gun before. But, if you think it would be good for me to help then I will stay.”

“Thanks son.” Engineer replied, giving him a wink. Heavy couldn’t tell what he was planning at all.

After a few minutes of fiddling around with the Medigun and the pack it came with, Medic slipped on the Medipack and held the Medigun in his hands rather awkwardly. Engineer didn’t do anything to make a correction, busy with something else, so Heavy huffed and walked over to help him with it.

“Ach, zhis machine is much bulkier zhan I imagined it vould be.” Medic said, fumbling with it.

“Doktor, let me help.” Heavy helped guide his hands to the right position, and how to hold the gun without having it slip. Medic recoiled slightly at the sudden contact but once he was grasping it correctly, he gave Heavy a warm smile, “Danke, Herr Heavy. Zhis vill take some getting used to, I zhink.”

“You have never held gun?”

“Nein. First time for everyzhing, I suppose.”

Engineer finished what he was doing asked, “Alright you two, ready to give it a try?”

“Ready as I vill ever be, Herr Engineer.”

Engineer unwrapped a rather large bandage on his leg, which was covered up by his pants. Medic filled the medipack on his back with red, slightly luminescent fluid. He flicked a switch on the side of the pack, revving it up. The machine whirred to life, the red fluid moving through tubing connecting the gun and the pack. Medic concentrated hard, and aimed the Medigun’s healing beam at the wound on Engineer’s leg.

In mere seconds, it closed, leaving nothing but healed skin behind. A ghostly red aura enveloped the area as it healed. Heavy couldn’t believe what he was seeing; it was almost like magic.

“It vorked… it vorked! ” Medic broke out into maniacal laughter, Engineer and Heavy equally astonished that it worked so well. “I am a genius! A gottverdammt genius!”

“That you are, doc. This is…” Engineer felt his leg, feeling no pain at all. It was like he never had an injury to begin with, “...This is incredible.The Administrator is definitely gonna wanna hear about this.” Engineer went to call her about their success immediately, leaving the room.

Medic sat down on a nearby chair and marveled at his machine. Heavy couldn’t help but do the same.

“Doktor. You have found way to outsmart bullet. это невероятно…” Heavy cuffed Medic around the shoulder and gave him a friendly pat on the back, “This will help us during fight. We will not lose with you on our side!” Medic’s face flushed with pride at the compliment.

“Danke, mein freund…”

“What does that mean doktor?”

“‘Mein freund’ means ‘my friend.’” Medic replied, giving the man beside him a quizzical look.

“So we are friends now?” Heavy felt himself smiling.

Medic paused, “Vell I suppose we must be. If ve are to be working togezer zhen we must hafe good relations, ja?” A grin creeped up on the doctor’s own face.

“Is good reason. I am glad to be your friend doktor.”

“And I as vell.” The two men looked at each other for a moment. Heavy felt his heart lift at having a new friend, especially one that he would need to work with often. He was surprised at their fast friendship, but it was certainly welcome.
The pair looked up to see Engineer grinning from ear to ear. “Good news fellas! The Administrator is gonna let us use the Medigun! She just wants us to test it on the rest of th’ team first, to make sure there’s no complications. She said she’ll handle most of the paperwork.” Medic had a look of pure glee on his face. His happiness at the news of being able to use his new invention even more was infectious.

“Zis is wunderbar! ” Medic exclaimed. He practically jumped up in excitement. Heavy found this side of him incredibly endearing.

“I must get started zhen! Zhere is no time to waste!” Medic stood and strode out of the office, pristine white coat flaring out like wings. He held his Medigun like it was a gift from god as he turned the corner and walked up the stairs to the infirmary. Once he’d left, Engineer turned to look at Heavy.

“So, you two are pals now, huh?”

“Da. I was surprised, it has not been long. Doktor does not seem like man who makes friends easily.”

“Well son, I imagine he probably just took a likin’ to ya. Some folks are like that, they’re more particular about who they get along with.”

Heavy thought about the weight of those words. He felt like he could relate, as only a few months ago he was in the same boat as Medic; a new mercenary on the field, surrounded by people he was less than excited to work with, unsure of what to say to any of them at first. They both left the shop, parting ways. Heavy had other things to do that day, no doubt Engineer did as well, and as exciting as the new Medigun was, Heavy needed to tend to his own weapons.

As he made his way down the wooden hallway, he felt that some interesting things were going to happen that week.

Translations:

Russian:
Смешной (smeshnoy) - Funny
Privet - Hey/Hello
Da - Yes
Нет (net) - No
oбласть знаний (oblast’ znaniy) -  Field of knowledge
это невероятно (eto neveroyatno) - It’s incredible

German:
Herr - Mr
Was ist los? - What’s happening?
Ja - Yes
Und - And
Danke - Thanks
Wunderbar - Wonderful
Gottverdammt - Goddamned/God damn it

French:
Au revoir - Goodbye

Chapter Text

– Still Monday –

Medic was on an adrenaline high as he rushed back to the infirmary, clutching his greatest creation to his chest. He could barely believe that it worked, especially on the very first test! It was practically a miracle, but deep in his heart he knew it was for one reason and one reason only; it was because he was a fucking genius.

“I must take notes immediately… ach, vhere in ze world did I put my notes?! Vhy didn’t I bring it down zhere vith me…” Rummaging around in drawers, he finally found what he was looking for. With pen in hand, he frantically began scribbling down any and all thoughts in scratchy German.

Test 1... es lief unglaublich gut. Besser als ich erwartet hatte.
Thema 1: Mann mittleren Alters, Alter nicht bekannt gegeben. 31? Rechte Hand fehlt, ersetzt durch eine Roboter-Prothese. Keine bekannten chronischen Krankheiten oder Krankheiten.
Ort der Verletzung: Rechte schienbein anterior.
Art der Verletzung: Gespaltene Platzwunde.
Beobachtungen: Wundheilungsfaktor um mindestens 140 % erhöht, keine Probleme beim Einschalten, Verwenden und Ausschalten des Geräts. Keine Anzeichen von Wunde nach Heilung, Platzwunde ohne Probleme erfolgreich geschlossen.

(Translation:
Test 1… it went incredibly well. Better than I expected.
Subject 1: Middle-aged man, age not disclosed. 31? Right hand missing, replaced by a robotic prosthesis. No known chronic illnesses or diseases.
Site of injury: Right tibia anterior.
Type of injury: Cleaved laceration.
Observations: Wound healing factor increased by at least 140%, no problems turning on, using and turning off the device. No sign of wound after healing, laceration successfully closed with no problems.)

Below the scrawled writing, Medic took to drawing as many diagrams of the Medigun as he could. He had already memorized every inch of the healing device, but it didn’t hurt to sketch out a few more drawings of it. Soon, the entire infirmary was littered with open books, papers, diagrams and everything in-between, the doves watching the doctor amble about muttering to himself. He had experiments to plan, tests to run, and much more; but he was grinning all the while. He was having the time of his life. As he paced back and forth, heels clicking on white tile, Archimedes came down from a nearby shelf from which he was roosting to land on Medic’s shoulder.

“Vhat is it Archimedes? I am busy.”

Archimedes cocked his head to the side and soared over to a clock on the wall. The time read 5:30 PM.

“Vhat? I hafe worked many hours before, it is not even late! I do not need a sleep reminder!”

“Coo!”

Then it suddenly dawned on him. He was meant to feed his doves, and he had forgotten.

“Ach! Archimedes, I am 30 minutes late! Vhy did you not tell me earlier? Es ist egal… I am sorry mein Täubchen.” Medic walked over to the cabinet where he kept his birdseed, and the doves instantly swarmed him. They landed on every inch of his body, his head, his shoulders and arms, anywhere they could get close. He fed each one, making sure they got just the right amount, and that nobody was left out. They all cooed and nuzzled the doctor, and he smiled at them. He truly loved his doves.

Suddenly, a resounding knock on the infirmary doors. Medic frowned a bit, still feeding the birds, but decided whoever it was could come in for a moment.

“Come in!”

Heavy opened the door slowly and peered in, instantly breaking into a grin once he saw Medic absolutely covered in doves. He looked down to see the doctor holding birdseed in his hands.

“Feeding little birds?”

“Ja. I forgot to, vas only just told by Archimedes. He is forgetful, like me, it seems…” The bird in question cooed in response to his name, flying over to sit on Heavy’s shoulder.

“Small bird likes me.” The bigger man reached up to scratch Archimedes, who made an appreciative noise at him.

“It is… sehr eigenartig. Very odd. He never goes to strangers.”

“Neither do you.” Heavy replied. Medic rolled his eyes, but he decided it wasn’t worth the effort to try going against what he said. It’s not like anyone else was worth speaking to.

“Vell, anyvays, vas zhere somezhing you needed?”

“ Нет. Just came up to tell doktor that it is time to eat. Missed lunch, should not miss ужин.”

Medic realized that he really did miss lunch, made even more obvious by the rumbling in his stomach, “I vas just focused on mein notes. Took up most of ze day…”

“You should take break. Breaks are important, doktor.” Heavy gave him an intense, almost motherly stare. It was a practiced look, one that he must’ve given others many times as a way to convince them to relax.

Medic turned back to the sketches and writings he had been working on forlornly. He gave a sigh, and let his doves off his shoulders and head, dropping off the rest of their food onto a clean countertop free of his scattered notes. “Vell, I suppose a break vouldn’t be a bad idea.”

Heavy gave him a warm smile, and the two men departed for the common area. Unfortunately they would be greeted to a less than desirable place for a relaxing break.

“You guys are freakin’ done for! I’m gonna OWN you losers!”

“NOT IF I STRIKE FIRST CUPCAKE!”

“Yer gonna get it now ya bloody devils!”

“Mmpphh! Mmm!”

It was utter chaos. A massive war was taking place, two forts made of chairs and battered couch cushions were built at either side of the common area, with defensive lines created from shelves and dressers taken from who-knows-where. The floor was absolutely covered in what could only be equated to a gray and brown muck of unknown substance, maybe food, maybe mud, maybe something in-between. Demo and Soldier had somehow constructed a bazooka, which was made of old cardboard and filled with a foul smelling object of mysterious origin. The opposing side, which was Scout and Pyro, had created their own massive death-weapon which was just a huge goopy mass of plaster and wet paper loaded into a poorly made makeshift trebuchet which consisted of sticks, rubber bands and assorted wooden slabs.

Before he and Heavy could fully absorb the scene before them, both sides opened fire on each other, yelling obscenities and insults as everything in the room became covered in the most horrible, revolting concoctions Medic had ever seen.

“Vhat in ze world…” Medic said in pure shock and disgust. Heavy, overcoming the initial surprise of what just happened merely looked annoyed with a tad of mild amusement. He immediately jumped to clear up the confusion, already prepared to explain, “This is normal occurrence during break weeks. Disgusting everytime. Wet paper ball is new.”

“Zhis is normal?” Medic could barely hold back a huge stupid smile from appearing on his face, despite the revulsion he felt. As utterly childish and stupid as it all was, it was probably the silliest thing he had ever seen.

Even Heavy, despite his exasperation, had a small glimmer of humor in his eyes, “Da. Last time, they decided noodles made good boolets. Still finding them in couch cushions.” Medic had to hold back the will to laugh at that.
“Come. We will take detour to kitchen.” Heavy led Medic around another corner, down a side hallway away from the madness. They entered the kitchen to see Engineer and Spy cooking something.

“Hey fellas. Takin’ an alternate route, huh?”

Medic gave him a very puzzled look.

Engineer chuckled, “Well doc, ya had to see it sometime. We like to call it ‘Dumbass Wars’, for obvious reasons. It kinda just happens at random, so it’s always a pleasant surprise to come down from a nap to see the common area bein’ torn apart.”

Spy scoffed as he stirred some sauce in a pot, “It is childish behavior.”

Engineer shrugged, “Well it’s only childish to you , seein’ as you got caught in th’ crossfire yer first week here. I think it’s kinda funny.”

“It took me 3 weeks to get the stains out of my finest suit! C’est stupide!”

Engineer merely laughed at that, patting the irritated Spy on the back. He put the food he just finished up on a few plates, “Here ya’ are fellas.” He handed two of them to Heavy and Medic, who were standing off to the side watching Engineer and Spy chat. Medic gratefully took his, not waiting to find a seat before scarfing down his meal. It wasn’t the kind of food he was used to, as it was some sort of American cuisine, but it was delicious all the same.

He and Heavy finished up relatively quickly and left the kitchen. They soon heard the Engineer’s signature dinner cowbell, and a cacophony of noises erupted from the common area. 4 incredibly foul smelling and filthy mercs were pushing and shoving each other down another separate hallway leading to the kitchen, loud enough to be heard from where Heavy and Medic were. From what he could hear, Medic could guess who was getting absolutely trampled and who was doing the trampling by the loud drunken swearing and muffled laughing. The doctor was silently thanking Engineer for letting him eat before the others could get to the kitchen first.

Heavy, who was still walking beside him, decided to initiate some conversation as they walked away from all the noise, “Doktor? Earlier, I notice you read book on philosophy. I have many of that kind.”

He raised his eyebrows. Medic was already a bit surprised when he realized the man next to him enjoyed reading when they sat together an hour ago, but he was even more baffled now. Heavy, who was an incredibly intimidating man on the outside, seemed to harbor a way more intellectual side to him than Medic had previously thought.

“You read philosophy? Vhat authors do you hafe in your possession?”

“Hm. Mostly Russian author. Some English, some older. Notice bird is named after Archimedes, have books from him too.”

Medic already brought a large library with him to study and read, but he supposed it wouldn't hurt to see what Heavy had. As the bigger man led them both to his room, he told the doctor that he had actually studied Russian literature and earned a PhD for his work. This only impressed Medic even more, although he made sure not to show it.

Upon entering the room, the first thing he noticed was how homely it was. Heavy had taken to decorating the room with personal items and memorabilia, with small candles illuminating different parts of the room. A large woolen rug, decorated with lovely patterns, was placed across the majority of the floor. A bed faced one corner of the room, with several large bookshelves covering most of the walls. Each bookshelf was completely full of novels of all kinds from several different regions of the world, with classics from Russia, Italy, the Americas, and even Germany.

Noticing a familiar title among the rows and rows of old and new book spines, he went over to inspect it. The words ‘Die Verwandlung’ were written across the front. It was a familiar name.

He then remembered reading this novel when he was younger.

Medic did his best to recall what he knew of it; the book was about a man who becomes a large insect, and must learn to adapt to his strange new form. It is a sad tale about neglect, as the man in the story ends up being hated by his family due to what he had become. One particular scene in the book that he remembered most vividly when he first read it was when the transformed man, entranced by his sister’s violin playing, leaves the room that he was trapped in to listen to it. The sister, revolted and angry at her insect brother, wishes to get rid of him. At that point in the story the man realizes that he is no longer wanted and dies of starvation.

Medic saw himself in that man, seen as something that his family no longer wanted. He left his home after losing his medical license and dignity,  rejected and tossed out for his misdeeds and curiosity. It was many years ago now, and it didn’t weigh on his mind as much as it used to, but looking down at the cover of this book reminded him of those hard times and the strange comfort books like the one he was holding had brought him.

Suddenly, a large warm hand came down on his shoulder, nearly making him jump out of his skin, “Are you okay doktor? You have been staring at book for some time” Heavy asked with a small sliver of worry in his voice.

Irritated about having his train of thought disrupted, he merely shrugged off the hand on his shoulder, “I am fine. Vas just vondering if I could borrow zhis book.” He held it up to show him.

“That is a good one. Very sad, but make you think.”

“You can read zhis? But it is all in German.”

“I have Russian copy as well.” Heavy answered. “Is there any more you want? Can take more.”

“Nein mein freund. But I appreciate ze generosity.”

As he turned to leave, Heavy made a suggestion that they return to their little spot on the second floor, an idea that Medic wasn’t opposed to. The night was still somewhat young, and he knew he really needed a break, even if it was a short one. As soon as they sat on that old couch again they took to chatting the whole time rather than read in silence like before, books set off to the side and abandoned to make way for friendly conversation.

There was something about Heavy that made him easy to talk to, even when he began asking more personal questions. He had an aura of trustworthiness and kindness Medic hadn’t seen often in other people. He loathed to admit it, but he actually enjoyed being in the presence of another person, and he was glad to call the man beside him a friend.

Once Medic found himself back in the infirmary again, doves sleepily cooing from the beams and rafters and curled up in little balls on shelves, papers and books right where he left them, he felt the cold wall of ice enveloping his heart melt just a little as he held the book he borrowed close to his chest. He set the book down, and walked over to where he left the notebook filled with Medigun observations. Instead of taking more notes, Medic decided to write something else instead.

Es ist peinlich, das zu schreiben. Ich schreibe selten etwas anderes als meine Beobachtungen. Aber vielleicht muss ich mir ein paar neue Notizen machen. Vielleicht habe ich einen neuen Freund gefunden. Ich habe ihn gestern meinen Freund genannt, aber es war wirklich nur ein Wort.

Es erschien mir nicht so wichtig. Nur ein Wort, gespielte Freundlichkeit. Aber je mehr ich mit ihm rede. Umso mehr denke ich, dass es vielleicht wichtig war. Ich muss kindisch wirken, wenn ich etwas so Einfaches ankündigt. Ich habe mich nie um Freunde gekümmert. Vielleicht tue ich es immer noch nicht.

(Translation: It's embarrassing to write this. I rarely write anything other than my observations. But maybe I need to make some new notes. Maybe I've found a new friend. I called him my friend yesterday, but it really was just a word. It didn't seem that important to me. Just one word, feigned friendliness. But the more I talk to him. All the more I think that maybe it was important. I have to seem childish when I announce something so simple. I never cared about friends. Maybe I still don't.)

The doctor frowned at the words he just wrote. When did he feel so sentimental as to write something like this? It made him feel uneasy. He was never a man for emotions, despite the insane happiness he felt when he succeeded in something, or the blind rage he’d feel when he failed. Emotions outside of that range were foreign to him.

He decided that it required no more thought and went straight to bed.

– Wednesday - 2 days later –

After a full day of preparation, self-experimentation, mixing fluids and even more note-taking, Medic was prepared to test the Medigun on the rest of the team. He informed them of what to expect, and how the gun would function. Some of them understood, with Spy, Heavy, and Engineer getting the gist. Some of them appeared lost, like Scout and Sniper, and then there was Demo, Pyro and Soldier who honestly didn’t seem to care too much (or was just too drunk to comprehend what the group was talking about).

They went over the plan; play a friendly game of capture the flag against each other, and get as injured as possible. Not in a strike to kill kind of way, but more of an extra violent form of good-natured fun! Then, they would call for Medic with the earpieces they had received from Miss Pauling and he would rush in and see how quickly he could heal them and if there would be any complications with the Medigun.
Medic couldn’t help but get excited. This would also be a great experiment for himself, just to see how he’d perform on the battlefield. He needed practice and this was the best way for him to get adjusted to his role without fear of getting exploded or shot to death.

The mercenaries were split up into teams of two; There was Team 1, which was made up of Pyro, Heavy, Sniper, and Engineer. Then there was Team 2, consisting of Scout, Spy, Demo and Soldier. The goal was to capture the opposing teams own colored flag, which they then realized would be difficult if they all wore red. So, Team 2 decided the best course of action would be to cover themselves in mud. And also cover their flag in mud. Spy was able to escape before his teammates could get to him, but as a way to compromise he resorted to wearing a brown suit.

Medic would be wearing his signature white coat, running around with his pack and Medigun to see how it would fare in battle. It would be tough for a first try, especially since he would no doubt be doing a lot of exercise in the process, but he was so full of exhilaration and excitement that the thought barely crossed his mind.

As soon as both sides took their places at their respective bases, Miss Pauling (who was overseeing the whole thing), announced, “Okay everyone! The match will start in 30 seconds!”

Medic, who was standing near the battlefield, noticed the sky was getting a bit dark. Large storm clouds were rolling in from the south, starting to block out the sun. This worried him slightly; he didn’t exactly prepare for rain in mind. It wasn’t the rain getting onto his clothes that he was worried about; it was his Medigun.

“10 seconds!”

He didn’t have time to think about it. Turning on and revving up his gun, he held it how Heavy had told him to.

“And… BEGIN!”

Medic didn’t take off right away. He had to wait for the injuries to come, and he couldn’t just go rushing in-

Suddenly, he heard the snap of something breaking, mocking laughter, and a whole lot of swearing off in the distance.

“AGHH! God frickin’ dammit, already?!” It appeared that someone had taken to injuring Scout right off the bat.

Before Scout could call for Medic, the doctor sprinted down the hill, kicking up red dust. Amidst the sounds of fighting and scuffle, he made his way through a tunnel, trying hard to hear where exactly Scout was. He skirted around a rather angry Soldier, who was raising his fists and yelling a whole slew of insults, and nearly tripped over Spy, who was sneaking along a wall and attempting to set traps. He turned a corner, then another, then jumped down from a wooden platform to see Scout keeled over in pain on the ground and covered in mud, clutching a very badly broken leg.

“Oh god, oh god, Heavy just went right for me, god freakin’ damn… broke my freakin’ leg!”

“Quiet down. I vill heal you.”

Scout sniffled, holding back tears, and Medic aimed the gun’s nozzle at his leg. With a quick snap and some sizzling, his leg was rearranged to the proper angle. Scout’s eyes widened in shock.

‘Wha… what the hell man… this is awesome!” He jumped up, stood and walked in a circle for a minute to see if he could bear the weight, then picked up his bat which had fallen to the side. A huge smug grin appeared on his face.

“Ohhh man… Heavy is gonna freakin’ geddit now!” He then ran off back into the fray without a second thought. Medic, delighted at the success, followed Scout into the battle to see if anyone else needed healing.

Jumping to and fro, running back and forth and all around, Medic was healing whoever he could see regardless if they were injured or not. He realized that the gun not only healed, but healed beyond what was necessary, which thrilled him. It gave the recipient of the healing beam a red aura, and a new sense of power and energy. Pyro, who Medic found beaten into the ground, was back up in no-time with even more energy than they had started the round with. Soldier had a massive black eye and missing teeth, which were quickly regenerated and back to normal upon re-heal. It was marvelous, it was wondrous. Medic smiled like a fool the whole way, taking every opportunity he could to crank back the handle of the Medigun and give someone a bit of extra health.

However, the adrenaline Medic was feeling was starting to wear off. He found himself slowing down just enough to start hearing teammates calling for him through the earpiece. He did his best to pick up the pace, but he wasn’t used to this much running. It really didn’t help that he was an older man and not nearly as quick and nimble as he used to be.

As soon as he got through a few more heals, a drop of rain landed on his glasses.

“Oh Scheiße.” His mind instantly jumped to worry. He had no idea how the Medigun would do in the rain. Being in a desert, he forgot to test and see if it was waterproof, forgetting that it certainly did rain in the desert; and when it did, it rained hard. Slightly panicking, he rushed around, spotting Heavy approaching the Team 2 building.
Medic decided the best course of action was to help Heavy get to the building, hopefully pushing him to steal the flag within and end the match. He needed to get out of the rain, which was starting to come down in a small drizzle, and he was too far from the RED base to call off the game himself. He cursed himself for not leaving the match to begin with, but he was too swept up in the excitement.

Heavy had his fists up and ready to punch anyone who came in close (guns were barred from this particular event), then he turned, noticing Medic coming up behind him.

“Vhat are you doing doktor? I am not injured.”

Medic hissed,”I am trying to get out of zhis rain! I do not know if ze Medigun is waterproof! Ve must make ze push forward, and quickly! To ze building!” He said this all rather quickly, not stopping to see if Heavy even understood what he said at all. The rain was coming down harder, mud forming under his boots and caking the hem of his coat. Sooner or later they’d all start looking like Team 2 if this weather kept up.

Heavy seemed confused at Medic for picking a side even when the rules said not to, but he was showing his desperation to get this over with as soon as possible. Heavy grunted, nodded, and began to run forward into the opposing side’s base.

He and Heavy made their way into the main Team 2 building, and out from under the pouring rain. Heavy turned to ask about the Medigun,“You said gun can not take rain?”

“Vell.. zhat is ze issue. I do not know. I cannot risk it, but I- I vanted to see ze match through. And, vell, ze RED base is too far now.” Heavy stopped and looked at Medic, an odd look in his eye. Then an admiring smile broke across his face.

‘You are very brave for that doktor. Not easy to take that risk, for man like you. Gun is precious to you, but determination stronger.” Him? Brave? Even when he was making a rash and frankly stupid decision?

Medic shook it off. If he really was as determined as Heavy claimed, then he had to prove it.

“Ve can’t vaste anymore time here. Ve must get ze flag!”

“Da. I saw flag down this way, but it was guarded. May have changed, was while ago.”

Making sure they were well hidden behind a corner, they decided to come up with a quick and simple battle strategy; this was something Medic knew he had to get used to. They were to work as a duo on the battlefield, working side-by-side to make that final push and lay waste to anyone who opposed them. Now was an excellent time to see how well they could work together.
The plan went as follows; first, scope the area out. Determine who was there, how they could be taken out without the enemy realizing Medic had picked a side, take the flag, and sneak their way back to the Team 1 base under the cover of rain. Medic had found a tarp to cover himself for the last part of the plan, so some of the Medigun could be protected when they needed to make a run for it. The whole plan was dumb, foolish, and if it didn’t work, well…

“Are you ready doktor? Stay behind corner, so they cannot see. If I am hurt, I will pretend to call you. Then you pretend you are running in. Make sure they cannot tell we work together on this.”

“Ja. I understand ze plan.”

“On three.”
Counting down with his fingers silently, he reached one, then sprinted around the corner in the hopes of catching whoever was stationed at the flag off-guard.

He heard a yell from what sounded like Demo, who instantly started howling like a madman. Heavy yelled back, then a few sounds of fists hitting something, then a thud. Medic could tell who won that fight, and he couldn’t help but feel incredibly impressed.

Medic’s earpiece lit up, and Demo weakly called for him to come heal him immediately. The doctor waited a few moments to make his arrival seem more believable, watching Heavy rush past him with a very muddy flag clutched in one hand. He winked at Medic, then ran out into the rain.

Medic turned the corner, instantly healing Demo, who had fallen on the ground after getting pummeled in the stomach. Getting up shakily, he was overcome with fury. He ran out into the storm, doing his best to see where Heavy went so he could enact his revenge. Medic didn’t care to see if he would, though, as he had to get back to the base. Taking the tarp and draping it over himself and his Medigun, he rushed outside doing his best to cover everything.

As he dashed out into the storm he became surrounded by dark, looming buildings, but he sped forward. His destination was directly in front of him, eyes locked on one of the few buildings in the distance that had its windows lit. He wondered how any of the other mercs would be able to compete in this weather or even see who they were meant to be fighting. Unfortunately, by covering himself with the brown, now very muddy tarp in the blinding rain which covered up his signature white coat, he may as well have looked like the enemy.

*Splsh!*

“OOMPH!”

The doctor found himself getting the wind knocked out of him and shoved deep into the mud, glasses knocked askew. Pyro was standing over him, realizing that it was actually Medic and not a member of the opposing team.

“Mmmph!” Pyro apologetically put a hand up to their mouth in an almost scandalized manner.

“Grrrr… you dummkopf!” Wiping mud off his face and smashing his glasses back on, he glared menacingly at Pyro, who was mumbling frantically in a way that sounded similar to I’m so sorry!

He then realized that his beautiful invention, his wonderful Medigun, had also taken quite a fall. It was absolutely smothered in mud and grime. Picking it up gingerly, Medic did his best to gather it all up in his arms as carefully as possible. He was speechless with anger and unable to form words, fearing the worst for his creation.

Pyro backed up and cowered a little, seeing the clear rage all over Medic’s face.

“I do not. Hafe time for zhis. I vill deal wiz you later.” He couldn’t even come up with a particularly colorful swear or threat just then, too worried about the damage the Medigun might have sustained.

He and Pyro kept pushing through the rain, finally making it to the building. Engineer was camped out in it, guarding Team 1’s flag. He noticed the filthy Medic and Pyro coming in, both absolutely miserable. It was obvious why Medic was upset as he clutched the Medigun, but Pyro was fearful of the rain (and at that moment, the doctor). It was clear that they hated it more than anything, being cold and wet was nothing short of torture, and now a very angry man was glaring at them.

“Well shoot, ya’ll look like you got dragged through the mud.”

“I might as vell hafe been! Pyro here slammed into me, and mein beautiful Medigun vas flung to ze ground! I should- I should tear zhem limb from limb!”

Engineer, now alarmed at how enraged Medic was, rushed to clear up the confusion, “Doc, I might’ve forgotten to mention it, but th’ Medigun is very well fortified. It bein’ thrown into some mud and gettin’ a little rain on it ain’t enough to break it, trust me. Not to mention, I can always rebuild it.”

The anger that Medic felt seeped away in place for skepticism and a bit of humiliation for not realizing it sooner.

“Vhat? But, I did not make fortification a priority… Or at least, not in mein blueprints…”

“Well, I got that idea doc. Your blueprints were mighty impressive, ‘specially for a doctor, but I took a whole lotta creative liberties with it. Thought you'd appreciate it if I gave your nifty little gun there some tough skin.”

Relief. Utter relief at those news. Medic couldn’t believe how utterly foolish he had been acting, not even stopping to consider that maybe the man he worked with to build the Medigun might’ve made it strong enough to withstand some rain and mud. Medic wasn’t an engineer by any means, and he hadn’t even stopped to consider the conditions the gun would have been exposed to.

The conversation was interrupted as soon as an incredibly exhausted Heavy came through the doorway, still clutching the flag in his hand. It looked like he’d been through hell. He rushed to tie the flag with Team 1’s.

“The flag has been captured for Team 1! Congratulations guys!”

Engineer smiled, “Good work out there son. Ya’ll did a good job, even if I didn’t see most of it.” Pyro clapped enthusiastically, their fear disappearing in place for happiness at the success. Heavy smiled proudly.

“You did a good job too, doc. ‘Specially for a first day on the field.” Engineer said.

“I just vish I vasn’t running around ze whole time vorried over nozhing.” He couldn’t help but feel embarrassed for it. The others didn’t say anything to that though, which he was grateful for. Medic would probably end up killing a man if they tried to poke fun at him for it.

As the two teams made their way back to the main building, the losing team groaning in defeat, they all patted Medic on the back and gave him words of praise for his hard work. The doctor felt like he was going to fall over any second. He was freezing and soaked from the rain, caked in mud and legs aching like crazy, but he couldn’t help but smile. Despite the misunderstandings and worry that had overtaken him, it was an incredibly successful day. He would have so many entries to write down; so many observations to make about the events and incredible healing factor of the Medigun. But he felt like passing out completely.

– A few hours later –

“Drinks are on me lads! We got ourselves a bloody good doctor for sure!” Demo and Soldier had linked arms and started singing some utterly ridiculous songs, still muddy from the battle earlier that day. They hadn’t even attempted to change out of their uniforms, skipping that part and getting right to drinking and celebrating.

The rest of the team, however, did manage to get clean and somewhat composed. Whoever didn’t get healed properly when Medic and Heavy were carrying out their plan went to the infirmary to get fixed up, the now clean Medigun ready to go. This also gave Medic a chance to observe the healing more carefully, and take notes on how it made the mercenaries stronger if they absorbed enough of the gun’s healing rays. Once that was done and over with, everyone decided it was a good decision to join Demo and Soldier and cut loose.

Despite Medic’s reluctance to leave the infirmary, he was dragged downstairs after some pretty good convincing by Heavy. It will be fun doktor, we can talk and drink! Yeah, sure. The two things that Medic really didn’t want to do, especially after such a draining day. But Heavy was so sweet about it, and he knew Heavy would be fun to talk to at the very least. So, what the heck, Medic supposed he could have a drink or two to calm down some of his jumbled nerves.

He had to hide the smile that was nearly peeking through the scowl on his face as he entered the common area after seeing all the mercs light up and raise a toast to their brand-new, absolutely awesome doctor.

“You ain’t nothin’ like our last doc! He was kinda wimpy, like, super cowardly and stuff. We lost so often, but I honestly think we gotta chance now that we have both me and you on th’ team! The BLU’s are gonna get their asses whooped!” Scout had not stopped talking once Medic joined the table, barely pausing to take a breath or a bite of food, “It’s gonna be so freakin’ sweet. I can’t wait to finally bash some heads in without worryin’ about dyin’ the whole time.”

Medic sighed and nodded. The compliments were very sweet, but he was about to perform a makeshift laryngectomy on the boy with his fork if he didn’t shut up.

“Mate, maybe you should give the doc a break. You’ve been runnin’ your bloody mouth all night.” Sniper clearly felt the same.

“Oh whatever man. I ain’t doin’ nothin’ wrong!”

The two instantly started getting into a spat about it, causing Medic to turn to Heavy now that he was free of Scout’s rambling. Heavy, who was watching the conversation unfold, chuckled at him, “Having fun?”

Medic rolled his eyes, “If you zhink hafing a one-sided conversation like zhat is fun…”
Heavy passed him a drink, which he took. Taking a swig of it, he coughed and wrinkled his nose.

“Urgh. Vhat is zhis?”

“Hm. American beer.”

“Vell it is revolting. Do you hafe anyzhing better?”

Heavy smiled at that, bringing out a bottle of strong vodka.

“Zhat vill do.”


Translations:

Russian:
ужин (uzchin) - Dinner

German:
Es ist egal - It does not matter
Mein - My
Täubchen - Dove/doves
Sehr eigenartig - Very strange
‘Die Verwandlung’ - The Metamorphosis
Nein - No
Scheiße - Shit
Dummkopf - Idiot

French:
C’est stupide - It’s stupid/foolish

Chapter Text

– Still Monday –

A small celebration was happening in the common area. Even if the others didn’t fully understand how it worked, seeing the Medigun in action gave everyone new hope for the battles ahead. Medic seemed to be the proudest of all, beaming as he sat with the others who praised him with reverence.

As everyone gathered in the comfortable room, they did what any group of men and a single pyromaniac would do; drink like no tomorrow. Demo had already passed out on the couch after a rather energetic game of cards, some which were still stuck to his face. Engineer sat near the fireplace, leisurely playing his guitar as Pyro watched the flames with great interest. They were laying on the rug, resting their head in their hands and swinging their legs casually. Spy, Sniper and Scout all got into a rather loud drunken debate about who should be healed the most during a fight with Medic nearby (the answer was none of them), while Soldier drew up battle strategies on the table nearby no doubt already trying to figure out how the Medigun could be used to destroy his enemies.

Medic and Heavy sat alone on their own couch in the room, laughing their heads off as the doctor recounted one of his many insane stories. Somehow, they became even funnier to Heavy now that he had drunk quite a bit.

Wiping tears from his eyes, Medic continued the story he had been telling, “So, anyvays, after I saw ze man get angry wiz mein assistant, nearly hitting her, I put on fake smile ja? Become very nice… zhen, I whispered to mein assistant to get ze operating room ready. She vas very confused, but I reassured her, told her, ‘Mach dir keine Sorgen, I hafe it covered!’ I told ze man I vould get his operation done right now like he vanted.” Medic had a very menacing grin on his face now, “But, nobody hits mein assistants. Not even to try. I vould make zhis man fear me, und see how he liked it.” The doctor was leaning forward, hands miming what he did to the man during the operation. “So, I did ze kidney transplant like he vanted… I took both of his kidneys… und replaced zhem vith some ‘Get Vell Soon!’ cards ve had laying about. Nobody ever knew. Until I vas caught, hehe, but zhat is a story for anozer time!” He giggled, giving Heavy a large slap on the back.
Heavy couldn’t help but chuckle. As incredibly concerning as that story was, it was almost admirable how Medic was able to get revenge on cruel people in such creative ways. Horribly unethical and frightening, but charming.

Medic slumped back into the couch, eyes half-closed, “Morgen wird hart…” He put a hand on his head tiredly, as if he had a massive headache. He really didn’t look too good.

“Doing okay, doktor?”

“Urgh… not by tomorrow. Drink vhas strong.”

“Hm. I will get you water then.”

Heavy stood up slowly, just in case he got dizzy from standing up too fast. He went to the kitchen, got a bottle of water (issued to the mercs so they could avoid using the lead-filled water that the base had to deal with), and returned to see Medic attempting to stand. He looked like he was about to pass out. Heavy moved quickly to stabilize the doctor and get him sitting again, grabbing him by the shoulders and trying to put him back in his seat.

“Sit doktor. You will get dizzy and fall.”

Medic scowled at him, shoving Heavy’s hands off, “I am more zhan capable of taking care of myself, danke.”

Heavy huffed, frustrated. He didn’t understand why some people thought it was necessary to push away the help they needed. Handing Medic the bottle of water, he tried to get him to sit again so he wouldn’t end up flat on the floor.

The rest of the team all headed up to bed, not having much else to do except sleep off the alcohol. Heavy and Medic, as usual, stayed behind for a while to talk in the empty common area. However, Medic seemed all out of humorous stories to tell.

“I alvays found inventing und experimentation so… fascinating . Sure, doctor work vas fine, but the exploration, the unknown und its secrets, it vas all so wunderbar. Maybe it vould hafe been better for me to become a scientist or somezhing, but… too late for zat now. I am a vanted man.” Medic paused, “I vant to make men stronger… better… but it is hard. To find ze answer. Even wiz all mein notes und studies…” He paused, putting his head in his hands.

“Ach, I am sorry, Heavy. Even wiz mein genius, es ist schwierig, but zhose are mein troubles to keep ja?”
The doctor then turned and looked at him with sad eyes and said quietly, “Ich hatte so lange niemanden zum Reden. Und jetzt benehme ich mich wie ein Idiot.”

Heavy didn’t really know what to say. He couldn’t fully understand what the doctor was talking about, or why he was telling him all this, but it appeared to be weighing on his mind heavily.

“Doktor, if work too hard, can always take break. You cannot do everything.”

“But I should be able to Heavy. I vas hired for zhis reason. Und I vill do everyzhing.”

Medic had an air of determination now. A slight rigidness took hold of him, and he snapped out of his rant, realizing he poured his heart out by accident. He stood to leave, embarrassed and annoyed.

He was on the defensive as soon as he recognized how much he’d said. Heavy could understand that it must have been hard to open up to someone, albeit accidentally, but it was still saddening seeing his new friend walk off so abruptly. He wasn’t about to chase after him though. He thought it would be best to leave him be for a while until he was comfortable again.

– 5 days later - Friday –

It was time. After more preparation, test runs, and experimentation, everyone was ready to go for the next match against team BLU. Medic had been working day and night to prepare the Medigun and several small instant-heal medipacks, which were going to be distributed all throughout the base they’d be stationed at. Underneath it all, the doctor was also working on something even bigger. Nobody knew what, but it seemed promising.

Today was finally the day that they could all see their new Medic in action on the battlefield, and if he could hold his own. A few days prior, Heavy had to go up to the infirmary and discuss self-defense with him, (Soldier tagging along much to his frustration) and how he would protect himself against the enemy if he ever found himself cornered.

Much to both Heavy and Soldier’s surprise, Medic had already constructed several deadly weapons with the help of Engineer, creating a wide array of strange artillery; there was a gun that shot syringes, a crossbow that could heal teammates, and several very wicked-looking bonesaws of all different kinds. He had made his own personal arsenal from scratch.
Heavy had never seen such interesting weapons before, so they ended up spending the entire Wednesday that week testing each one in the shooting range. Medic had some poor aim but an admirable amount of bloodthirstiness, vowing to saw the bones of anyone who would dare get close to him. It was impressive how different he was compared to the last few Medics they had.

Now it was Friday, and everything was set and ready. Every merc was prepared to go out there and annihilate BLU scum. The match for that day would take place at 2Fort, as there was some highly valuable intel there that needed to be secured. BLU was set and determined on getting RED’s intelligence, but no way in hell was that going to happen if they could help it. And if they could manage it, they’d try securing the BLU team’s intel, which they had been informed that there would be only one of.

Huddling around the large conference table at 2Fort, the plan would go like this; Engineer would hold down the fort and defend with his sentries. He’d place a dispenser on the lower floor of the base for easy access. However, the dispenser would have a trick up its sleeve; with Medic’s help, it now had the ability to heal teammates with the same healing fluid he had in his own Medigun and medipacks. Engineer had also placed another, smaller sentry in the sewers leading up to their base, just in case any BLUs decided to sneak their way through there.

Pyro would help protect the Engineer’s equipment, making sure to spy-check and burn anyone that got a little too close to the RED base for comfort. They chose to stand watch next to the front entrance, doing their best to catch any particularly brave BLU mercenaries by surprise if they dared get close.

Soldier and Heavy would be the first line of defense, and if necessary, the first line of offense. They would secure the bridge, Soldier armed and ready with his rocket launcher. Heavy would keep a close eye on the BLU entrance, and if anyone made it through to the RED base that he wasn’t able to crush into a fine paste, he’d relay the info to the rest of the team. If they ever had the chance they were allowed to storm the base and secure the opposing side’s intel.

Demo would also be guarding the base and its surroundings by arming the place with his signature sticky bombs. He’d also keep watch of the intelligence, making frequent trips to the intel room to see if anyone (namely, a BLU spy) had tripped the bombs he’d placed in the lower levels. Demo had also brought with him a rather large, iron-cast sword in case he ever had the opportunity to chop off some heads. Sniper would be doing what he did best; sniping from a well-protected position higher up in the base. He would also assist Soldier and Heavy by watching over the bridge and canal.

Spy and Scout would work together to try and steal the BLU intelligence, much to each other’s dismay, with Scout acting as a very annoying distraction. Spy would take those opportunities to sneak into the base, and (hopefully) take whatever they had.

Medic would have the most important job of all; making sure everyone stayed alive long enough for the RED team to gather all the BLU intelligence they could while protecting their own. He’d stock up the medipacks if they ran low, and heal wherever he could.

The plan was something they’d thought up for a while, but with the additional healing capabilities they had this time they would have a much better chance this go around than they had in weeks. If they failed this mission, it would surely be the worst loss they’d ever suffer.

Before the start of every battle the team gathered to go over the plan one more time and get all their weapons in order in the respawn room. 

Heavy chose to sit in silence, mind wandering back to his old home in Siberia as it usually did before a fight. He couldn’t help but think of them, how they were doing, if the money he’d been sending were enough. He knew that it would be a tough battle. He knew he’d come back from every death he might suffer, alive and well thanks to the respawn system. But it didn’t stop the small comfort thinking of his family had always brought him.

Heavy’s thoughts were disrupted when a red gloved hand appeared on his shoulder.

“Heavy. It is almost time.” Medic was looking down at him, a syringe gun in one hand. Heavy nodded at him in reply. He picked up his own weapon and joined the others surrounding the exit of the respawn room.

The rest of the team were whooping and hollering, excited to get out there and kick BLU ass.  They had lost for far too long; but today, they were going to win.

“Mission begins in 10 seconds.”

Clutching his minigun, Heavy waited patiently for the countdown. He looked over to see Medic who was grinning maniacally. He had managed to pull out his bonesaw as well, which made him look extra menacing.

“Five.”

“Four.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

Everyone raced out the door, all going to their positions on the battlefield. Heavy saw Engineer and Pyro running off further into the base, Demo and Medic following close behind. Spy and Scout took off in the direction of the sewers. Sniper went to station himself on an outlook, peering through the scope of his rifle to try catching any unsuspecting victims. Soldier and Heavy went together, jumping down and landing on hard sandy ground. A resounding shot from a sniper rifle and the sound of a body hitting the dirt confirmed that Sniper had secured his first headshot. The sun was still rising lazily in the sky and things were already starting to heat up.

“Alright soldier, stick to the plan and we will crush these maggots!” Soldier declared proudly. Aiming his rocket at the ground, he rocket-jumped into the air and landed on top of the roof of the bridge. Heavy stumbled a bit backwards from the blast. He was always surprised when Soldier pulled that life-threatening stunt. No time to think about it. He needed to maintain his position, minigun at the ready to pepper small BLU weaklings full of lead, his minigun humming with promise as he revved it up.

Soon, that promise would be fulfilled. As if on cue, the BLU Scout and Demo appeared, running onto the bridge ready to bring hell. Heavy wasn’t going to let that happen. Soldier had gotten  himself into a scuffle with the BLU Pyro who’d managed to airblast him off of the bridge’s roof, unable to help. No matter. He could handle these two by himself any day.

Revving up the gun, he aimed for the BLU Scout first, who did his best to dodge the bullets. He got in close to Heavy with his bat, hitting him around the arms and back as he bobbed and weaved around the bigger man. The BLU Demo was laughing mockingly, preparing to shoot some sticky bombs. Heavy dropped his gun, turned, and as soon as the bat came in close, he grabbed it with his hand mid-swing. The force of the swing being halted so suddenly caused it to get wrenched right out of the Scout’s hands, whose eyes widened in fear and surprise. Heavy clenched the bat in his hands, crumpling it like a metal can.

“Pathetic. маленький слабак.”

Heavy lunged for the BLU Scout, who was now trying to pull out his shotgun, grabbing him around the neck in one hand and lifting him off the ground. He kicked and spluttered, trying his best to wrench Heavy’s hands away to no avail. Suddenly, the sound of a bomb about to go off. Heavy looked down, noticing several sticky bombs planted around his feet. He kicked one bomb off the bridge, sending it straight into the water. He grabbed another in his hand, still holding the Scout in the other, and chucked the bomb straight back at the BLU Demo who yelled in surprise. Heavy did his best to back up before the rest of the bombs exploded, but was too little too late; the blast sent him flat on his back. The bomb that had been flung into the water exploded as well, spraying everyone with water.

“Yer gonna pay fer that ya big bloody devil !” BLU Demo called out, already doing his best to refill his sticky bomb launcher. Heavy had to take care of the Scout first, who was taking advantage of the bombs that knocked the two of them flat. Scrambling to escape, the Scout got up and turned to run into the RED base, but not before Heavy could get up as well and grab him by the leg. This caused the BLU Scout to fall to the ground again, the wind knocked out of him. Pulling out his own shotgun, Heavy shot him once, twice, and then three times over, which took care of that.

Soldier had managed to blow up the BLU Pyro he was struggling with, having had his rocket launcher ripped from his hands and getting it back at the last second before he could get turned into a pile of ash. The BLU Demo was still on the bridge and clearly very angry at the loss of his teammates.

“You’re dead , cupcake!” Soldier yelled, firing off a rocket directly at the Demo. Unable to dodge in time, he was instantly blown to smithereens.

“We have 10 seconds to get into that base soldier! Let’s move it, double time! Hut hut hut!” Soldier wasn’t wrong about that. It would take several seconds for the BLU defensive line to respawn, and now that they had taken out 3 of them they had just enough time to get in there and deal some more damage. Heavy and Soldier rushed the bridge, with Heavy scooping up his dropped minigun along the way.

But it seemed like their issues would only escalate from there.

As they barged through into the BLU base, Soldier found himself in another predicament. He ended up trying to dodge around the BLU Sniper, who had left his perch to angrily swing his kukri at him. Soldier did his best to avoid the deadly blade, but unfortunately couldn’t dodge well enough.

“ARGHH!”

Soldier fell to the ground, kukri impaled in his side. Heavy, who had just managed to revv up his minigun in time proceeded to turn the BLU Sniper into swiss cheese.

“MEDIC! I NEED SOME BACKUP! IN- IN THE BLU BASE!” Soldier refrained from trying to get the weapon out of his abdomen, instead calling Medic through his earpiece. Heavy couldn’t help but feel a pang of worry. He knew Medic could hold his own, but the BLU base was crawling with the enemy, and he had no idea how well he could do against them until he got to them in time. He decided he’d try and make it easier for him by taking out as many of the BLU team as possible.

“Soldier. I have plan. I will take out puny BLU, give Medic opening to heal you. Not worried about myself if he is coming.”

Soldier groaned and gave a thumbs up, doing his best to keep all of his blood inside his body until backup arrived. Heavy turned and looked down the two hallways attached to the entrance of the base. The left hallway led down to the BLU sewers; the other, up to their respawn and intel rooms. If he wanted to take as many BLU down as possible, taking the right would be his best bet.

He glanced around the corner, checking to see if anyone was there. The BLU Heavy was there, bored and laid back, gun not even in hand. Mistake number one.

Heavy came in behind him, discarding his own gun in favor of grappling with his counterpart. An off-guard, distracted Heavy? Mistake number two.

Giving him a good whack to the head, the BLU Heavy let out a noise of surprise, turning to see RED Heavy swinging at him. The two threw fists left and right, walloping each other with as much force as they could muster. The BLU Heavy went down quickly, already having been taken by surprise with a hardy punch to the back of his skull.

Heavy continued deeper into the base, obliterating an Engineer and his dispenser with his minigun. He heard distant explosions and the sounds of screaming, not sure where they were coming from. He sincerely hoped that Soldier was the source of those explosions… he shuddered to think what would happen if the BLU team had managed to get to him and Medic before Heavy could stop them.

Still a bit injured from his fight with the BLU Heavy, he found himself at a dead end. No ammo nearby… he hadn’t even realized he’d used up the last of his bullets on the BLU Engineer and his dispenser back there. He turned to see the BLU Pyro standing over him, cornering him.

Not this again.

The Pyro aimed their flamethrower at him with malice, prepared to set him ablaze.
Then, the sound of a syringe gun opening fire, and a familiar, very angry Medic appeared in the room. The Pyro made a shocked noise and attempted to dodge, but not before the mad doctor could take out his bloodied bonesaw and stick it right through them. The BLU Pyro fell to the side, turning into a flash of blue light indicating their return to respawn.

Face full of bloodlust, Medic turned to see Heavy, who was still on the ground, “Are you okay mein freund?”

“Da. I am ok, now that you are here.” Heavy replied gratefully. Medic smiled in return.

The doctor held out a hand, which Heavy took. He helped the man up and aimed his Medigun at him to give him some health, “Vhat vere you even doing? Trying to get yourself killed?”

“Wanted to provide distraction, so you could heal Soldier. Didn’t want you to deal with enemy alone.”

The doctor gave him a look that he couldn’t discern, “Vell… danke. I appreciate it. Danke, dass du mich beschützt hast.” Heavy didn’t understand what that last part meant, but he guessed it meant something good judging by the friendly tone. “Now. Ve must secure ze intelligence, now zhat we are here, ja?”

“Indeed doktor. Stay behind me, it will be dangerous.” Medic obliged, keeping the healing beam of the Medigun steady. The pair ran down the stairs next to them, remembering the map Spy had laid out for the team when they were strategizing. From what he said, the intelligence should be down in the deepest part of the BLU base, located in a room connected by two separate narrow hallways. It was the same build as the RED base which made it easy to figure out. They then found themselves in a server room, noticing the hallways Spy had spoken about.

And there, the intelligence. The briefcase with all the intel they could need, sitting on a desk. It seemed miraculously undefended.

All of a sudden, Heavy turned to see the uncloaked BLU Spy, raising a very sharp switchblade to strike Medic in the back.

Heavy didn’t have any time to defend him. All he could do was yell out, “DOKTOR! BEHIND YOU!”

It seemed to happen in slow motion. Medic’s eyes widened as he went to look over his shoulder, knife mere inches from his exposed back. He moved to get out of the way, with Heavy grabbing him by the shoulder to push him to the side. The Spy missed and leered at the two of them. He pulled out his revolver, prepared to shoot Medic full of holes, but the doctor had pulled out his own syringe gun in retaliation. The BLU Spy cloaked, disappearing before he could get pelted with syringes. Medic shot around the room a bit and then swung the air with his bonesaw for good measure.

“That was too close doktor. We have to get out of here.”

“Agreed mein freund. I vill carry ze briefcase… vill you ensure mein and ze intelligence’s safety?”

It was almost a challenge.

“I will always protect you, doktor.”

Medic snatched the briefcase, strapping it to his back.

“We have taken the enemy intelligence!”

After having made it out of the room and through some of the main base somewhat successfully (and stressfully), the pair made a quick plan to escape through the sewers after seeing multiple BLU teammates rush to defend the front of their base. They had instantly taken to guarding as many exits as possible, which left the tunnels running under the base as their last option of escape. They needed to move fast though; no doubt the BLU’s would move to guard there as well.

After killing a BLU Medic and Scout, both of which tried to alert the rest of their teammates after spotting Heavy and Medic trying to sneak past them, the two made their way down the stairs and into the sewers. They did their best to move quickly and quietly, up to their knees in water. Nobody else had seen them and luckily nobody had taken to guarding the tunnels yet. Or so they assumed.

The BLU Spy had returned, determined to kill them both. He hadn’t even cloaked or disguised; he was far too angry to compose himself. Still, he had managed to sneak up on them again as soon as they made it into the BLU sewers, shooting Medic right in the shoulder and for good measure, the leg as well.

“Oh Gott, NEIN! HILFE!”

“We have dropped the enemy intelligence!”

Medic fell, landing face-first in the water. The briefcase was knocked off his back, and as he struggled to support himself, the masked man stood above him with an evil smirk. Heavy tried to rush him, but the BLU Spy merely pointed his revolver straight down the doctor’s face.

“Take another step, and your friend here will end up painting the water red.”

Heavy backed down, seething in rage. Medic was bleeding out, the large gaping hole in his shoulder and leg causing him horrible agony. He’d be dead soon at this rate, but if Heavy tried to charge the BLU Spy, he’d be dead even quicker.

“Now, I am going to sit here and wait for our intelligence to return to base. You will sit there and watch your precious doctor die. And that will be all.”

There wasn’t anything he could do. He couldn’t call for backup without the Spy seeing what he was doing and opening fire. Medic was much too weak at this point to defend himself, already half-passed out due to the rapid blood loss. It all seemed hopeless.

“I’m gonna bash your freakin’ head in, loser! I’m gonna turn your face into mush! Hahaha!”

“ARGHH!”

The sounds of a metal bat hitting something, along with a cacophony of clanging and splashing echoed through the sewers. The BLU Spy looked up for a moment, extremely confused. It was just enough time for Heavy to sprint through the water as quickly as possible and clasp his hands around the Spy’s neck. Unfortunately he turned back, seeing Heavy bearing down on him.

“You-!” Before he could retaliate, Heavy punched him as hard as he could muster square in the chest, forcing him down into the ground. He gasped, trying his best to get back up, but before he could a rather bombastic RED Scout had turned the corner, blood all over his grinning face.

“Aw man, if only somebody saw how I absolutely destroyed that stupid helmet-wearing dope!” He stopped dead in his tracks once he saw the scene before him.

“Woah! What tha’ hell-”

“SCOUT! Get intelligence back to base! NOW! ” Heavy bellowed at him, and without another word Scout scooped the briefcase up in his arms, sprinting outside and back to the RED base.

“We have captured the enemy intelligence!”

“NO!” The BLU Spy was angrier than before, completely soaked in sewer water, his suit and plan ruined, “ You … are going to die painfully for this.” He’d managed to stand up again, wiping his drenched face, but then realized he had dropped his revolver.

“Your first mistake-” Heavy held the revolver in his hand, having taken it from the Spy when he’d fallen, “-was when you threatened my friend.” He broke the gun in his fist, throwing the remnants of it in the water, “Second mistake; you underestimate me. ” Heavy grabbed the now defeated BLU Spy by the neck, “And those will be last mistakes you ever make.” 

Heavy placed his other hand around BLU Spy’s head, crushing his enemy’s head in his fists, blood and gore splattering the wall. A gruesome death.

‘Z- Zhat vas impressive…” Medic said weakly. He was still alive and barely conscious.

Heavy rushed over to him, his fury turning to panic, “I will need to carry you doktor.”

Medic merely waved his hand as if to say ‘go ahead’ , not able to speak anymore. He was in a great deal of pain. Heavy would’ve used the Medigun, but he had no idea how to use it, and he wasn’t about to risk breaking it. So, he resorted to slinging it over his shoulder. He gently picked Medic up, carrying him bridal style. He needed to get back to the RED base, and quickly.

“Success! We have secured the enemy intelligence!”

Scout had succeeded in getting the win for the team. The match was over; they only needed one piece of intelligence to succeed. But Heavy needed to get back regardless. Now was no time to celebrate. He wasn’t about to let his friend die on him, respawn or not.

Wheezing, Heavy came barreling through the RED base. He went through the sewers, ran up two flights of stairs and stumbled into the respawn room, all the while carrying Medic and his equipment.

“Good lord, you two look like you’ve been through the wringer…” Engineer was shocked at the terrible condition the both of them were in, “Get him over here, Heavy, let’s get him patched up.”

Engineer was restocking in the respawn room when Heavy busted in. He helped lay Medic down on the ground while he got out one of the medipacks.

“Where in the world were ya’ll at? We’d been tryin’ to find out where you two went, all Soldier said was that ya’ll were in the BLU base an’ that you needed backup, but that was it. We thought ya’ll were done for.”

Heavy sat down, every part of his body aching, “Almost were. BLU Spy made us drop intelligence, shot Medic, Scout came at last second.”

Engineer let out a low whistle, “Well shoot, I gotta give you props for that. Ya’ll were mighty brave for stormin’ the base like that.” He applied the last of the bandages to Medic’s shoulder and leg, who was instantly starting to look better.

This must’ve been the combined work of the healing factor Medic had created for himself and the medipacks, which granted him the ability to slowly heal without the Medigun. Heavy didn’t have to wonder how he was able to do it; he saw Medic doing the most gruesome blood transfusion on himself he had ever seen a few days prior, exchanging all of the blood in his body for the same strange healing fluid that was found in the Medigun.

Medic opened his eyes a bit, blinking slowly. He sat up, clutching his shoulder and leg gingerly, “Urgh… Did ve succeed? I- I dropped ze briefcase-”

"Yes doktor. Scout picked up intelligence, we have won.”

“Gott sei Dank… zat is a relief.” The doctor leaned back and put a hand to his forehead tiredly, still looking worse for wear, “But I am confused about somezhing Heavy. Vhy did you not take ze briefcase and run? Vhy did you stay?” Medic looked up at him, eyes full of genuine curiosity.

Heavy thought about it. He could have left, the briefcase was close enough to him. He could withstand a few shots from the revolver, and Medic would just end up respawning 20 seconds later if he’d been killed. It didn’t seem worth the effort to stay behind and try to save him especially when Scout saved the day at the last second.

“I made promise to you. To protect you-”

“Und ze briefcase.”

“-and the briefcase. But mostly you.”

Medic gave him a scowl, “Zat is not a good reason. Ze mission takes priority.”

Heavy merely sighed. He was too exhausted to make a retort.

“Well, if you two are done chattin’ about whatever it is you’re chattin’ about, I reckon we get a move on. We’ve secured the intel we needed, and now we gotta get back to home base.” Engineer said. He’d been watching them talk and didn’t seem willing to interrupt.

The three of them departed the respawn room once Medic was well enough to stand on his own, making their way outside. The rest of the RED team was waiting near the transport truck they’d arrived on. Some were still injured from last-minute scuffles, due to Medic being unable to heal them towards the end of the match and most of the medipacks having run out. Others took to parading Scout around on their shoulders in celebration. He was still holding the briefcase and grinning from ear to ear.

They’d finally won.

Translations:

Russian:
маленький слабак (malen'kiy slabak) - Little weakling

German:
Mach dir keine Sorgen - Don’t worry
Mein - My
Morgen wird hart - Tomorrow will be tough
Danke - Thanks
Und - And
Wunderbar - Wonderful
Es ist schwierig - It’s tough
Ich hatte so lange niemanden zum Reden. Und jetzt benehme ich mich wie ein Idiot. - I haven't had anyone to talk to for so long. And now I'm acting like an idiot.
Danke, dass du mich beschützt hast - Thank you for protecting me
Oh Gott Nein - Oh god no
Hilfe - Help
Gott sei Dank - Thank god

Chapter Text

– Friday night –

After a week and a half of horrible failures, endless preparation and training, the RED team finally managed to succeed in securing a win. The impressive healing qualities of the inventions Medic had created carried them to victory. 

The whole team was deeply grateful, and much to Medic’s dismay, they decided to celebrate him and their success by partying all night long and getting him to join in. The party they had a few nights ago had been more than enough; now this was just excessive.

The doctor did his best to wrench away from the rest of the mercs who all seemed dead set on getting him to sit and chat. He’d honestly rather be doing anything else, as long as he was able to do it alone. 2 hours in he found his chance to escape, as Demo and Scout decided to have a dance-off and everyone got up to laugh and join in.

He finally made it up the flight of stairs to the infirmary and closed the doors behind him, making sure to lock them in case someone considered hunting him down and forcing him to join a conga-line or something.

“Ahh. Finally, peace und quiet.” Medic said to himself, back within his sanctuary. Archimedes and a few other doves flew down to say hello, then resumed what they were doing.

Noticing that he was still wearing the same sewer water and blood-soaked uniform he’d worn since the match earlier that day, he decided to clean himself up and change into something much more comfortable; a nice sweater-vest with a dress-shirt underneath, slacks, and some nice dress-shoes to match. He may be off the clock, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t dress well.

“Now, vhat to do…” Medic paced the lab a bit, thinking about what he could occupy his time with now that he was free from the others. He could do a bit more self-blood transfusion. No, he’d done all he could there… maybe he could reorganize his collection of exotic animal organs? Nah, he’d done that two days ago, and his new shipments weren’t in yet.

“Aha! Of course!”

Medic pivoted on his heel and strode over to one of the countertops lining the infirmary wall, a large window basking the counter and the notes that lay upon it with moonglow.

“I can do some more vork on zhis!” Gathering the papers and books in his arms, he went to go sit in an old armchair that he’d grown fond of. It had been there when he first arrived at the infirmary, and with good thorough cleaning of it, (it was covered in an odd amount of blood) it quickly became a favorite place for him to relax. Opening some of the books he’d been studying, he began reading and jotting down his thoughts as he stretched out in the chair. It was rather peaceful.

*knock knock knock*

The doctor groaned. He’d just sat down, and if he had to open the door to see Soldier with glass shards in his face from beer-jousting or Scout with more mysterious shrapnel in his legs that he’d have to pry out, he’d end up switching everyone’s organs around in a deadly game of ‘gut shuffle’.

“Vhat?  Vhat is it? Vhat could you possibly vant at zhis hour?” Medic said, exasperated. As he opened the door he looked up to see Heavy, who was looking rather tired.

“Sorry to bother doktor. Wanted to see if I could join you. Infirmary is quiet, other places are not. Not even room was safe.” Heavy must’ve had a harder time escaping the party than Medic had. He supposed he could make an exception and allow the bigger man to join him in the infirmary.

“Vell.. I guess you can come in for a bit.” He opened the door then closed it when Heavy entered. Some of the doves that were sleeping on the tops of the shelves opened their eyes and cooed at the newcomer.

“Sit vhere you like Heavy. Just make sure not to be too noisy.”

He walked back to his armchair and resumed what he was doing. Despite how big Heavy was, he was quiet as he moved to sit on the operating table. He’d brought a book with him, the same one he’d brought when he and Medic read together. He watched the larger man for a few minutes, noting the bad posture he had… and how the operating table wasn’t really a good place to sit.

“Er… Heavy?”

“What is it doktor?”

“Vhould you like to sit somewhere more comfortable? I hafe a spare armchair in mein bedroom if you’d like?” Medic asked. It felt strange offering someone something nice, but seeing Heavy light up at the offer made him feel good about it.

After setting up the armchair with surprising difficulty for several minutes (trying to squeeze a too-big armchair through a too-small door frame was much harder than anticipated), it somehow caused Medic and Heavy to get into a chatting mood as they went to sit down. Medic started the conversation by recounting something that had happened a few days ago.

“You were able to do surgery by self?”

“Ja! Quite easy really, vith ze Medigun keeping me from bleeding out and feeling pain, and mein superior knowledge of ze surgery. I discovered it vhen I needed to do some vork on mein lungs. Remember, how during one of our exercises last veek I took some shrapnel to ze chest? Vell, I zhought it vould be a good idea to try removing it all myself instead of going zhrough ze respawn.” Medic had found himself prattling on to Heavy once again; he was a good listener. He always seemed interested in what the doctor had to say, regardless of how disturbing his stories were, and it was refreshing!

Medic had his arms outstretched and a smile on his face, “I had ze genius idea to use ze Medigun on myself, keeping me awake and alive. No anesthetic required! All in all, very successful. I vill be able to perform complex procedures much easier now!”

He looked over to see Heavy watching him, who was practically hanging onto every word. Finally, someone who understood and admired his accomplishments.

“That is very impressive doktor. You have been here only a week, but already doing great things.”

“Vhat, all zhis? It vill be only made better mein freund!” He couldn’t really contain himself now. As much as he valued protecting the confidentiality of his own inventions, he just had to tell someone of his newest project. He stood up quickly, gathering the notes he had brought over to the chair and laid them all out on a counter. Waving Heavy over, he spread open a rather large blueprint. He joined Medic’s side and looked over the doctor’s shoulder with curiosity.

“I am currently vorking on somezhing big. Very big. It could very vell change everyzhing for us!”

“Did the Medigun not change everything?”

Medic scoffed, “Vell ja, but zhis? Zhis vill give us all ze edge ve really need! Ze Medigun vas merely a first step! But zhis vill be mein true crowning achievement!” He paused, then off-handedly whispered under his breath, “ Vell, only until I can figure out how to bring people back from ze dead vithout ze respawn…”

“What was that?”

“Nozhing! Ehehe…” Medic had started moving some equipment he’d had lying around next to the counter he was at. He held up a three-pronged device, similar in purpose to a pacemaker, but much larger and more menacing in appearance. It was still just a prototype, merely an idea of what could be accomplished.

He’d need to consult Engineer about a final design, and make 8 of them, including one for himself. It would require weeks of work… as he also needed to plan out several live surgeries, and convince all the mercs into doing them. It would be difficult, but if it all went according to plan, it could give them all an even bigger edge in upcoming missions.

Heavy seemed even more interested now, “What is it for doktor? How does it work?”

A large grin flashed across Medic’s face, ”It is for mein newest idea… to make men nicht zu stoppen! Impenetrable, invincible!”

The Russian man arched an eyebrow in mild confusion,”That… does not really answer question.”

“Oh come now, vere is your sense of mystery? I vill answer all of your questions soon, be patient!” 

He crouched down next to one of his boxes, rummaging around and pulling out a perfect model of a baboon heart. This particular explanation would require a demonstration, and he wasn’t willing to sacrifice one of his good, live baboon hearts to do it.

‘Now, vatch closely.” Taking the heart in one hand and the strange prototype device in the other, he shoved the device directly onto the right atrium of the fake heart, directly under the SA node. Heavy gave a bewildered look.

“See ze placement? I place zhis conductor device directly under ze SA electrical node of ze heart, which vill take ze gathered healing energy of ze Medigun zhat I collect from ze injured and cause ze heart to start pumping rapidly, distributing ze healing factor energy all across ze body nearly twenty times as fast!” He’d taken to pacing back and forth as he spoke.

“Vith ze healing factor pushed across ze body as such a rate, it vill give ze receiver of ze energy a few seconds of invincibility against all kinds of zhings… bullets, explosions, evil wizards…”

“Wizards?”

“Just an example. But ze boundaries are limitless!” He ended the sentence with a flourish.

Heavy whistled, putting his hands on his hips, “You are odd man, doktor. But very smart one. You come up with wild idea. But you will succeed. I have no doubts.”

“And you shouldn't!” Medic paused, “But… I do need a test subject for zhis. It is not yet done but, vhen it is I vill need someone to… try it out on.”

He wasn’t one to ask for favors, but there was a first time for everything. He did his best to put on an apologetic smile, hoping to coerce Heavy into doing this rather dangerous experiment with him. A lot of things could go horribly wrong, but did Heavy really need to know everything?

Putting a hand on Heavy’s shoulder, Medic attempted to convince him, “Vould you be villing to be ze first to test zhis? I vould do all ze surgery… and vould use ze Medigun of course.”

The man was certainly not curious anymore. If anything, he was now slightly worried, “Surgery? Doktor, I don’t think-”

“Es ist nicht so, als würde ich dir wehtun! It vill be fine! Und I vould never let anyzhing happen to you!” Medic practically felt the lie dripping off his tongue. His own lung self-surgery was a near disaster when he performed it; there was no way it’d be any easier with a completely awake person who could easily snap him in half if he ever messed up. Of course, that was only if he did manage to mess up; but the risk was still there.

“You would protect me. During procedure.” Heavy looked him dead in the eyes. It seemed more like a statement than a question, as if he could tell that Medic was lying.

“Aheh, ja, I vould, but-” Medic started, deflating under Heavy’s gaze.

Heavy held up a hand, interrupting him,“But, you do not seem sure. I will not get mad doktor, if you mess up or make mistake. But I want you to be honest.”

Heavy paused for a moment, then continued, “We are to be pair, we work together, we must have trust no matter what we do. ты пообещаешь мне это?”

Medic was utterly shocked. How had he seen through his blatant lie like that? This man was reading him like an open book, and it was unnerving.

“Ja. Yes. I understand mein freund. Ich entschuldige mich… I am sorry.”

Heavy put a hand on the doctor’s shoulder, “It is okay.” His unwavering eye contact was starting to bore holes into Medic’s head. He’d never seen a stare so intense. However, something about his words, even through the broken English, seemed very genuine.

Then, he stood up, walking back to the armchairs to retrieve his book. “I go now doktor. Let you think about this. I will be your test person, but only if you remember what I said. Give me reason to trust you.” He left without another word.

Medic hadn’t realized that he’d been leaning into the counter the whole time, and now had a slight ache in his back. He looked over to see the baboon heart with the device still embedded in it, sitting sadly on the counter. 

– 2 days later - Sunday –

“Boom baby! Now that’s a homerun!” Dropping the bat to the ground, Scout instantly took off after sending the baseball into the sky. He ran to first base, second base, third base-

*KABOOM!*

”Aw shit!” Scout hit the ground to avoid the explosion, covering his arms up over his head, coughing from all the dust that just got sent all over the place. Getting up as quickly as possible, he scrambled over to what used to be third base then stumbled the rest of the way home.

“Making all th’ bases into bombs was the worst idea ever man!” Scout groaned as he clamored back onto his seat, which was located at the makeshift stands the mercs had made for this very strange adaptation of baseball.

“Wasn’t it yer idea, ya bloody idiot?” Demo retorted.

“HEY! ‘Least it wasn’t my dumb bombs! Ya’ didn’t have to agree to it ya stupid-”

“STAND DOWN MEN! The battle is not over! Our enemies are out there you maggots, not at home base!”

Sniper, who was in what was probably the outfield, called out, “Oi! Let’s get this game on, ya wankers! Some of us wanna sleep after this, not to mention that it’s bloody hot out here!” Pyro mumbled and nodded in agreement. It couldn’t be fun to sit out in this heat with their suit on, especially when they also chose to wear their poorly made catcher’s equipment as they guarded homebase.

Engineer, who was relaxing in the shade nearby, had built a little robot pitcher to help with the game. Nobody seemed keen on trying to pitch, especially after seeing Soldier attempting to strangle Sniper for getting him 3 strikes out not even an hour into the game. To rectify the issue, Engineer quickly built a little robot arm and stuck it into the ground, preventing any future throttlings. 

Heavy and Medic were watching the whole game unfold and were looking on in disbelief. Medic was only there to heal anyone who’d managed to get their legs blown off, due to the fact that they’d decided to replace all the bases with mines. He’d already had to reattach several pairs of legs and other assorted limbs, and was getting more and more irritated by the minute. Heavy was there to hold Medic back just in case he ended up removing limbs out of anger instead of fixing them.

“We still need 600 more points men! We will not rest until the mission has been COMPLETED!” Soldier yelled. Demo and Scout both let out a long string of complaints. They’d already been playing for hours, trying to get to 1000 points for some reason, but at this point the team was just trying to survive the minefield they’d made rather than make any attempt to play baseball.

Engineer, who’d left to retrieve something from inside, yelled out,“Hey fellas, why don’t we take a break?” A collective sigh of relief washed over everyone as they all made their way inside for a well-deserved rest (while also doing their best to avoid stepping on stray landmines).

Medic used a hand to wipe his face of sweat and frustration,“Gott sei Dank… if I had to end up reattaching Demo’s legs to his body one more time…”

Heavy chuckled, giving Medic a pat on the shoulder, “Keep him alive doktor. We need him to get rid of bombs later.”

The cool air of the base embraced the team as they sat around on chairs, stools and boxes in the garage area, their game of Explosion Baseball all but forgotten. Scout decided the best topic for conversation would be to start bragging about all his past ‘successful’ relationships for several long and painful minutes.

“I used to’ get all th’ ladies back in Boston! There wasn’t any lady who could resist me!” Everyone collectively rolled their eyes, except for Pyro, who was too focused on setting a trashcan on fire in the corner.

Sniper, who’d been leaning against a wall nearby, spoke up,”Oh yeah mate? If yer so ‘good with the ladies’, then how come you’re always stumblin’ over yer words when Miss Pauling’s around? How’s the whole asking her out with a bucket of chicken plan workin’ out for ya?” The group broke out into mocking laughter as Scout’s face burned bright red. He muttered a whole lot of swears under his breath, slumping down in his chair with his arms crossed.

Medic wasn’t paying attention to what the group was talking about. He was busy reading some notes about the project he was working on. He decided to call it “ÜberCharge”, which he thought was a good enough name for it. He was also thinking hard about what Heavy had said… he needed to earn the man’s trust. But how?

“Aye doc! DOC!”

Medic looked up to see Demo calling for him, “Vhat? Vhat do you vant?” He didn’t care enough to hide his crankiness.

“We were jus’ tellin’ some funny stories, wonderin’ if ya’ had any yerself. So whaddya say doc? Ya got anythin’ interestin’?”

Normally Medic would’ve turned down the offer. The only person there he’d really felt comfortable talking with was Heavy, especially when it came to talking about anything going on in his life, past or present. 

However, there was one particular story he decided he could tell. But he had one goal in mind; to shock and intimidate his teammates. Regardless of how often they sang their praises of his work, if they didn’t fear him now they surely would once he was done. Nothing gave Medic more satisfaction than knowing that he held some small fear over others. 

“Hmm… you know, I do hafe one story zhat I zhink you vill all get a real kick out of .” Medic grinned mischievously as everyone turned to give him their full attention. The doctor hadn’t been open to conversation with anyone so far, so the whole team was very curious about what he had in store. Even Pyro stopped what they were doing and turned around to listen.

Medic paused for dramatic effect, then began his tale, ”Zhis is a razher long story… but it is a good one. It vas in mein youth, vhen I vas an assistant vorking in ze hospital. I vas just discovering mein love for experimentation. Ze joy I vould feel, vatching ze surgeons vork, vatching ze human body from ze inside… it vas wunderbar. But, it vasn’t enough to just vatch . I vanted to do all of zhat myself. But I vas not qualified. I vould need several more years of experience… but I vas nefer one to vait. So, I planned an excursion one night…” Medic had to take a few pauses when he spoke, doing his best to remember the words he needed to say in English. 

It also helped add to the growing anticipation of how this story would end, noting how the mercs leaned in ever so slightly so they could hear him better.

“It took a month of planning. I had to find out vhere ze morgue in ze hospital vas, I had to make sure nobody else vould be zhere zhat night. I even tampered a bit wiz some calenders… moved around important events of mein co-workers… hehe, one particularly rude co-worker of mine left earlier zhan usual to meet his cheating wife for zheir divorce date...”
He could feel the evil in his smile as he said it, expecting the others to be appalled by the person that was hired to take care of them having done something like that to somebody. The others just seemed more interested in what he had to say next, which was slightly off-putting.

But hey, they were invested, and he had no intention of stopping the story now, “Anyvays, once I had everyone out of ze vay und ze whole zhing planned, I vent undercover. Dressed in black und vore a surgical mask since it vas ze only zhing I had to cover mein face at ze time. It vas ze first time I ever did somezhing like zhat, but it vas ze most exciting time of mein life. I vent to ze morgue, took one of ze cadavers zhey had zere for scientific experimentation. I vas as careful as possible, because even zhough I vould be ze only one vorking zhere zhat night, security vas still an issue.” Medic took another pause.

“But vhen I made it to ze operating room it vas ze most incredible zhing. I took so many interesting notes zhat night, so much experimentation, und by ze morning I vas absolutely covered in blood and formaldehyde. I scared ze hell out of ze janitor vorking zhere zhat night! I got ze hell out of zhere, und I vas being chased by at least 10 guards! Oh Gott, zhey vhere utterly furious, but I vas laughing all ze way home, still dripping fluids. Und of course, I made sure to make out vith as many organs as mein hands could carry! Just imagine ze sight of me running out of ze hospital, vith kidneys und lungs in one hand and a whole bundle of intestines in ze ozer!” Medic ended the story with him laughing maniacally, noting the silence once he was finished.

Satisfied that he’d utterly horrified the team with his story, he sat back in his chair with a smug look on his face. However, that look would be replaced with one of pure shock as every single merc broke out into howling laughter. Even Spy, who was somewhat hidden in a corner, couldn't hold himself back from doubling over.

“You- you just- stole organs? What th’ hell doc? Who even- who in th’ hell does that ?” Scout choked out, suffering from a laughing fit. Demo was on the ground shaking from laughter, having fallen out of his chair. He probably found the whole thing twice as funny due to his own strange sense of humor. The rest of the gang, after letting out a few chuckles, almost seemed impressed with how Medic managed to pull off that sort of thing.

“Medic! You will need to relay to me your strategies on body and organ stealing! They will be useful for future battles against the BLUs!” Soldier declared while giving Medic a rather hefty slap on the back as an odd token of admiration. Not really sure how to respond to any of these reactions, Medic turned to see Heavy chuckling himself. The doctor couldn’t help but smile, warmed at the sight of seeing Heavy and the rest of the team actually enjoying his story. Perhaps, he could stand to be more friendly with them.

Maybe they weren’t so bad after all.

The sentiment was quickly ruined after Pyro attempted to set Sniper’s hat on fire, which resulted in a rather huge scuffle between the two. This caused everyone to jump from their seats to try and pry them apart, with much swearing and yelling ensuing. Soldier, who had been sitting next to Medic, ended up standing up so fast that he knocked into Medic’s chair, causing the doctor to face-plant into the floor. He swore angrily in German as he was helped up by a very bemused Heavy, fixing his now slightly bent glasses.

Guess that ended that.

– Later that evening –

The rest of the day wasn’t nearly as eventful, besides the weekly check-ups Medic needed to do on the team. He’d meant to do them that morning, but everyone was too preoccupied with the chaotic and explosive baseball game they were playing.

Pyro decided to arrive first, both as a way to get away from Sniper and as an excuse to stay an extra hour or two with Medic’s birds as a way to calm down. The doctor didn’t mind, so long as the pyromaniac didn’t get any ideas about turning any of his precious doves into roast chicken. The rest of the mercenaries were much more laid back, and thankfully Pyro left before Sniper arrived. Medic didn’t have the mental energy or patience to deal with them fighting in the infirmary.

Heavy came in last, a sweet smile on his face. Medic couldn’t really help but feel fondness for the bigger man, despite having only known each other for a little over a week. I mean, he’d already decided to see him as a friend… and they had saved each other’s lives, regardless of what the respawn would’ve done for them. That sort of thing tends to create a bond.

He and Heavy had a good laugh during the check-up, and it was clear that Heavy held nothing against the doctor from their conversation 2 days ago. Even when he was gone for several hours after, Medic could still feel his lingering warmth and kindness in the room.

His thoughts threatened to spill from his mouth, out loud, alone in the infirmary. He couldn’t even bring himself to focus on what he was reading as he sat in his armchair. Medic decided to open the book he’d taken to writing his feelings into instead, hidden within the bookshelves of his bedroom.

Ich schreibe hier nochmal. Nicht mit Notizen. Mit Gedanken. Ist es töricht zu glauben, dass ich zu Freundschaft fähig sein könnte? Sogar jemand wie ich? Ich bin erst seit einer Woche hier und fange schon an, alles in Frage zu stellen, wozu ich je fähig war. Es ergibt einfach keinen logischen, wissenschaftlichen Sinn. Dieses Gefühl von Wärme, wo einst die Kälte stand ... Jahre, in denen es dahin schmolz.

Ich werde mein Bestes tun, um diese Mauern, die mich beschützt haben, nicht einstürzen zu lassen. Aus Hass, aus Lieblosigkeit, aus Einsamkeit. Ich bin nicht dumm, weil ich so bin. Einfach nur zu schreiben, scheint gegen alles zu verstoßen, was ich weiß.

Vielleicht kann ich allen Widrigkeiten zum Trotz wieder Freunde finden.

(Translation: I am writing here again. Not with notes. With thoughts. Is it foolish to think that I could be capable of friendship? Even someone like me? I've only been here a week and I'm already starting to question everything I've ever been capable of. It just doesn't make any logical, scientific sense. That feeling of warmth where the cold once stood... years of it melting away.
I will do my best not to let these walls that protected me fall down. Out of hatred, out of lovelessness, out of loneliness. I'm not stupid for being like that. Just writing seems to go against everything I know.

Maybe against all odds I can make friends again.)

Medic instantly snapped the notebook shut. He felt embarrassment creeping up his neck and face despite nobody else being in the room. When did he get so… soft? It’s not like anything really eventful had happened to make him this way all of a sudden as far as he was aware. It felt incredibly frustrating not being able to understand, in any logical way, why these feelings were suddenly springing out of nowhere after years of not thinking of them. 

He stood up, grabbing a coat from his wardrobe. Maybe a brisk walk outside in the cold air of the evening would help clear his mind of it. He hadn’t done it the last time he’d written within the notebook; maybe this new variable could provide a solution.

As he walked through the semi-familiar halls of the base, he took a few turns away from the central area where most of the other mercenaries were. He wasn’t in the mood for talking. After a few minutes he managed to find his way outside. The fresh cool air was a nice contrast to the stifling cold of the infirmary, which he didn’t mind much; but as a doctor he knew getting some air every now and then was good for the system.

Medic walked a ways, following a trail around the outside of the base to a little hill that overlooked a small crevice. 

The view was lovely, as the hill was just high enough that you could peer over the several old wooden buildings that covered the desert landscape. It helped that the moon, which was bright in the sky, illuminated the terrain before him. The stars twinkled brightly overhead, thankfully free of any light pollution that could have dimmed them. Medic could almost imagine himself at peace here, just spending his whole night sitting on that hill. He didn’t even mind that his clothes were all dusty now. It didn’t really matter to him, when he had the quiet expanse to marvel at and the stars and moon to keep him company.

He spent an hour or so out there, watching the landscape. It didn’t even really feel like any time passed at all. Maybe studying the stars would make for a good hob-

“Doktor?”

Medic nearly tumbled over the hill at the sudden voice. He shot straight up, hand clutching his chest as he tried to calm his pounding heart. He felt burning anger at the voice that interrupted him and his thoughts, until he turned around.

Of course it was him . Heavy, who looked pretty confused by Medic being there. How in the world was it possible for him to run into the man this much? Maybe he should study the likelihood of him running into Heavy so often. It would probably make for some interesting results.

“Guter Gott, tu das nicht! Do not sneak up on me like zhat, du Narr!” Medic hissed.

“Er, sorry doktor. Was not expecting to see you here. I- I like to come here, to this hill sometimes. To clear head.”

The doctor just couldn’t hide his disbelief. Did they really have that much in common, to the point they’d both be drawn to the same points of interest for the same reasons?

“Das ist lächerlich… vhatever. I vas done out here anyvay.” He wasn’t. He would’ve loved to stay there all night. But he wanted to be alone.

Still, he felt incredibly bad after seeing the mild hurt on Heavy’s face. This was his friend, or at least what he thought was a friend. He enjoyed the banter they both had and the shared interest in books, but the amount of socialization Medic had with him was getting to be a bit too much. The man had his limits.

Heavy, thankfully, didn’t attempt to stop him as he left. Maybe he knew that Medic really did want to be alone, or maybe he just didn’t feel like keeping him there. Either way, the lack of gesture was appreciated. Maybe he’d try apologizing tomorrow… it was the least he could do for snapping at Heavy so suddenly.

He was thinking so hard about it he didn’t even realize he’d walked straight into Pyro, who was standing in a hallway and trying to re-adjust a painting.

“OOF!”

Medic stumbled a bit, but Pyro had reached out and caught him in time before he fell. It seemed like falling was also going to be a common occurrence for him that week. Pyro let out a few apologetic mumbles, nervous about Medic blowing up at them again similarly to how he reacted during their mock capture the flag game.

“I uh… I am sorry Pyro. I vas not looking vhere I vas going.” Still feeling bad from earlier, Medic didn’t really have it in him to lash out at Pyro. And he did want to try and be a bit nicer to his teammates (when he felt like it).

“Mmmph?” Pyro tilted their head questioningly, as if to ask ‘are you okay?’

Medic still couldn’t full discern what they said at times, but they made it easier by being a very animated individual, using a good amount of body language to convey what they wanted to say.

It almost made Medic wonder if they knew sign language. To test that theory, Medic signed ‘I am fine’, moving his hand vertically across the palm of the other.

Pyro appeared startled, but then started talking in a very enthusiastic, muffled way.

They signed excitedly, ‘you can sign too?’

Medic took a moment to think about what they signed, then slowly responded, ‘only a bit. Not much. Can understand, not as easy to respond.’

Pyro merely nodded at that, still very happy to see someone else use a form of sign language they knew how to use. The doctor looked over to see the painting they’d been trying to fix onto the wall. It was an incredibly colorful piece, as if some fairytale creature swallowed a glitter bomb and exploded all over the canvas. Pyro must have made it themself and thought it would make a good addition to the wall.

Before Medic turned to leave, Engineer came whistling around the corner, holding a toolbox in one hand. He spotted the pair and started walking towards them, “Hey there fellas. What’re ya’ll doin’?”

“I vas just going back to ze infirmary.”

“Mmp! Mmmph!”

Engineer nodded, turning to see Pyro still trying and failing to get the painting to stay on the wall correctly. He set down the tools he was carrying and began signing at Pyro. They signed back, hands moving too quickly for Medic to make out what the two were signing about. Engineer then looked at him, giving him a smile.

“So, Pyro was just tellin’ me that you can sign too!”

“Ja. I am not very good, zhough. I zhought zhat maybe Pyro knew it, so I switched to it to perhaps make it easier to understand each ozher.”

“That is mighty sweet of ya doc. But, if ya ever need help with learnin’ it a bit more, me and Pyro could give ya some lessons.”

“I vill zhink about it, danke. But I zhink I vill head off to bed now.”

Engineer and Pyro waved goodbye to Medic as he continued his journey down the hall, with Engineer nailing Pyro’s painting into the wall properly. Medic decided to just head back to his bedroom, not really bothering to go to the infirmary now. He was just too exhausted, and he didn’t have much else to do that night. Flopping onto his bed still fully clothed, he quickly slipped into a dreamless sleep. 

Translations:

Russian:
ты пообещаешь мне это? (ty mne eto obeschchayesh’?) - You promise me that?

German:
Ja - Yes
Nicht zu stoppen - Unstoppable
Es ist nicht so, als würde ich dir wehtun - It’s not like I’m going to hurt you
Ich entschuldige mich - I apologize
Gott sei Dank - Thank god
Guter Gott, tu das nicht - Good god, don’t do that
Du Narr - You fool
Das ist lächerlich - That’s ridiculous

Chapter Text

– 2 weeks later - Sunday –

All he felt was the cold. 

The cold pressed against his face, against every inch of his body, seeping into him. 

The only warmth he felt was on either side of him, people he knew. 

All he heard was yelling, and the footfalls of his pursuers.  

All he could see was darkness. Flurries of snow swirling around him. Old withered trees zipping in and out of focus.
Deeper into the forest, escape. 

It was all he could think of.

They couldn’t do anything but run, even though they left footprints in the snow and broken twigs in their wake, letting the people chasing them know where they were going. Barking was heard in the far distance. Their time was running thin. Running water. A river was dead ahead.

Беги туда, они не смогут нас выследить таким образом. Продолжай, не останавливайся, не дай им добраться до нас.

Мы знаем, что происходит, когда они делают.


“GASP!”

Heavy sat up straight in bed, eyes wide and heart pounding. He looked around the room in terror, but then realized he wasn’t in any danger. He was at the RED base, he was a mercenary, he wasn’t back at that place. He was older now than he was then. He was in bed, and his family was safe.

Taking several deep breaths to calm his nerves, he tried to forget the visions clouding his mind. It was that same nightmare again, the same one that he’d had for so many nights. It felt just as vivid, just as cold. As if he was back there. He wasn’t of course, he and his family were safe, but he still couldn’t shake the fear that had gripped his heart.

“Maybe taking walk will clear head… Я надеюсь.” Heavy pushed himself out of bed, rubbing his eyes of sleep. Putting on some of his outdoor clothes, he headed out of his room and down the hall, being careful not to make too much noise. The last thing he wanted to do was get in a pointless argument or fight with one of his teammates; as much as he enjoyed a good brawl, he really wasn’t in the mood. 

As he ambled slowly through the wooden halls, he appreciated the quiet that the nighttime offered. He’d taken late strolls before and having the whole base to himself (besides the occasional run-in with Spy) was a blessing. 

That also meant that the kitchen was free, and still freshly stocked from the shipment that had come in the other day.

Heavy entered the kitchen, which was still a mess from the massive amount of baking Pyro did yesterday. Pyro was granted access to the oven from time to time (with a lot of supervision) so they could make as many pastries as they wished. They had decided to make a wide variety of muffins, many of which were still littered about the kitchen. Heavy ignored them though, he wasn’t in the mood for food. He was more interested in getting himself some coffee. He knew he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep, so he decided it would be better to wake himself a bit more.

“Ааh, намного лучше.”

With two mugs in hand, he sat down at an old rickety chair and table which were pushed up against a little nook in the base wall. It was a place Engineer frequented during the afternoons, and it was a nice well-shaded place to sit outside. Heavy’s eyes drifted towards the sky, enjoying the sight of the stars and moon above. 

He also realized that he was close to the outside door of the infirmary. It had its lights on. What was Medic doing up so late? Hopefully not working on his secret project again. It bugged Heavy how the doctor never seemed to take a single moment to rest. It always caused him to become tired and exhausted far too often.

It even got him killed last week during a control point mission. Medic was so sleepy that day that he ended up slumping against a wall and promptly fell asleep on the control point. He was killed instantly by the BLU Heavy who had turned the corner and saw him snoozing there. It was a very bad day for the RED team, even if they did manage to scrape the win for themselves at the last second. It was even worse to see how thoroughly disappointed and embarrassed Medic was about the whole thing.

Heavy knew that if the doctor chose to stay up late again, the mission tomorrow would be even worse. It was an intel capture mission this time, and would be even harder than the one the team had completed 2 weeks prior. Instead of capturing one piece of intelligence like they had during Medic’s first real battle, they would need to capture all 3. Heavy knew he couldn’t let his friend fall victim to the same mistake twice, especially on a mission like this.

Carrying the two coffee mugs in one hand, he walked up to the outside entrance of the infirmary and knocked three times. He knew Medic would recognize the knocking, as he made sure to knock a certain amount of times so he’d have a sure chance of getting in.

The doctor was very particular about who could visit him, especially at night, as he found out one eventful day. Scout had come running up to him and was whining about how ‘ Medic only really lets Heavy in for anything, and he’d already shut the door in his face and it was super unfair because he got his finger cut off because he got 10 bucks if he did it and he needed help right now.’ Or something along those lines. It was always hard for Heavy to keep up with what Scout was saying, especially through the thick Boston accent and fast talking.

The whole situation spawned a rather stupid argument which ended with Medic punching Scout square in the face out of annoyance. That was a rather hectic day.

Sure enough, Medic opened the door with a rather kind smile on his face. The smile didn’t reach his eyes. There seemed to be something bothering him, evident by his tired appearance, as if he had been struggling with sleep as well.

“Ah Heavy, come in. A strange time to have you as mein visitor! Vhat are you doing up so late?”

“I could ask the same, doktor.”

Medic rolled his eyes, “Ja, but I asked you first. So tell me, vhat is bothering you?” He leaned against a counter lazily as Heavy closed the door behind them.

Heavy was a little surprised at the thoughtful question. The doctor didn’t really care much about how people were doing emotionally, or at least not enough to ask. This was something he’d become familiar with over the few weeks they’d been talking. Handing Medic the other mug of coffee that he’d made for himself, Heavy took a sip from his own mug. The doctor took the coffee gratefully.

“Just had bad dream. What about you?”

“I just… I could not sleep. Vas too busy vith reading und I didn’t realize it vas so late.”

Heavy raised an eyebrow in suspicion but didn’t say anything to that. Medic was always buried in a book and became oblivious to his surroundings once he was fully absorbed in his reading. Still, something didn’t feel right. 

As the two went to sit in their usual armchairs, Heavy saw the book ‘The Metamorphosis’ that he’d lent Medic 2 weeks ago on the counter next to the chairs. 

“Has book been good?

The doctor’s face contorted into a pained expression for a split second, “It has been… fine. It vas just hard to read. You can hafe it back.” Taking it from the counter, he handed it over to Heavy without looking at him.

Casting a worried glance at him, Heavy decided not to press the matter just yet, not unless Medic felt like telling him. Better to leave it be for the moment.

“Vhat vas your bad dream about, Heavy?” 

“Why do you ask?”

“You seem unhappy.”

Heavy couldn’t really argue with that.

“It was just nightmare, I have had it for many years. It is always the same. Me and my family run from bad men who hunt us. It has been a long time, but it still… it still haunts me.” He didn’t want to describe the whole thing in detail. He’d already re-lived it enough times, and he wasn’t willing to relive it again for this conversation. Medic didn’t really say anything, his expression solemn.

“Ich habe- I have nightmares too. About mein family.” Medic was staring at the ground between his feet, leaning over with his hands clasped. Whatever his nightmares were about, they seemed to have had an awful effect on him as well.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He didn’t say anything, still thinking. Then he said, in a weak voice, “I- I don’t zhink I can Heavy.”

Placing a comforting arm around Medic’s shoulders, he replied, ”You do not have to doktor. If hard to talk about, I understand.”

To his surprise, he didn’t try to remove Heavy’s arm, but leaned closer, as if silently asking for a hug. Heavy got up, putting both arms around him, holding him in a big comforting embrace. The doctor hugged back, resting his head on one of Heavy’s shoulders. He sighed with content and the two sat there for a moment in silence.

After a few minutes, Heavy asked gently, ”Does the hug make you feel better, doktor?” He withdrew from the embrace a bit to look him in the eyes.

“Ah, erm, ja. Yes. It vas pleasant.” Taking a deep breath, he settled more into his own chair, with a bit of a flustered smile on his face.

“When you have nightmare, you can always talk to me doktor. Or we can hug.”

“Pfft. Not unless I vant to be embarrassed.”

The pair laughed at that, their moods lifted. Heavy certainly felt better about the whole thing, and he only hoped Medic did as well.

He departed the infirmary after making sure Medic really was going to sleep (with quite a bit of convincing). Making his way back to his own room, he began quietly reminiscing on all the little moments they’d shared over the few weeks they’d been friends. It was interesting finding out how much they had in common, and this only added to their growing friendship.

They both shared a rather violent sense of humor, remembering one particular instance where Heavy had brought Medic to tears with an amusing story about how he’d managed to break every single bone in a man’s face with one well-placed uppercut. It was delightful how much fun they had telling each other stories like that.

They also shared a great love of poetry and flowery literature, which Heavy discovered entirely by accident after stumbling in on Medic reading a rather sappy story, which was probably the most unexpected side of the doctor that he’d seen so far. What was most amusing was that Medic got extremely embarrassed over the whole thing, forcing Heavy to promise that he wouldn’t tell a soul. Heavy merely laughed it off and offered some suggestions for literature in the genre, which Medic accepted as a sort of compromise.

It felt like he discovered something new about the man every other day, which only kept him coming back to the infirmary for frequent visits and chats. He’d even let the doctor perform some mock surgeries in preparation for the ÜberCharge experiment, which Medic had offered to Heavy as a way to reassure him about the whole process. And from what Heavy had been told, the little heart devices that he needed to make for the ÜberCharge experiments weren’t fully completed, so he couldn’t perform the full surgeries just yet.

The first mock surgery was one of the most grotesque moments of his life. Seeing your friend/doctor gleefully digging around in your insides while you watched, completely awake and aware, was the most uncomfortable and bizarre thing that had ever happened to him, but Medic’s pure enthusiasm and vast knowledge about it reassured him just slightly enough to let him do his thing. Medic did know what he was doing, or at the very least, Heavy felt a lot better about it when he convinced himself of it.

Despite the caffeine and giddiness he felt about their conversation, he managed to fall asleep an hour or so later, dreaming of better things.

– The next day - Monday –

“Hff… hff… hff…” He wheezed. Heavy continued his journey across the bridge. 

The dropped intelligence was there, unguarded. He’d been fighting to secure it all evening, constantly dropping it and picking it back up over and over again before it could return to the BLU base. It was incredibly frustrating having it knocked off his back constantly, always mere inches from death and unable to pick it up again when he had to make hasty escapes. 

However, after a bit of strategic planning with the rest of the RED team, they’d managed to make a big enough distraction to pull the BLUs guarding the fallen briefcase to the location of the distraction. Which gave Heavy a slim window of opportunity to try and secure it without getting blown up again.

Unfortunately, that also meant that he would be alone for a few minutes until the others could regroup with him and help him out. Even Medic had to run off elsewhere, no doubt desperate to try plunging his bonesaw into some unsuspecting victims. But there wasn’t much that could be done; the BLU team were fighting tooth and nail, pulling out every strategy they had to keep the RED team disoriented and separated.

As soon as he stepped forward to grab the briefcase, he braced for an enemy teammate to come sprinting around the corner to defend it. Somehow, they always knew when their intelligence was being captured, which was odd… unless they had their own Administrator helping them out on their end, but there was no way to confirm it.

Heavy didn’t have time to think about it, because just as he thought of it a BLU Soldier came out of the concrete tunnel exiting out from the bottom of his own base. He had a big smirk on his face that made Heavy want to tear it right off. This one puny BLU was clearly too confident for his own good.

“You are going to die, you stupid maggot! Be proud that you'll die at the hands of a real American!”

Heavy didn’t care to respond. He started up his minigun, letting loose a torrent of bullets at his foe. The BLU Soldier took cover behind a bit of rock near the bridge, managing to get out of the way in time. Heavy huffed in frustration.
The one thing Heavy hated about the location that the mission was taking place at, which was an old mining facility known as Doublecross, was how easy it was for the opposing team to not only take cover but how they could just as easily push him off the side of a bridge to his death. It was a favorite strategy of theirs to set off as many explosives as possible, causing the RED team to careen over the side of the pit and into the rocks below.

The BLU Soldier came out of hiding, shooting a few rockets directly at Heavy in an attempt to blow him to pieces or knock him off the edge. Doing his best to dodge the missiles, he shot back in retaliation, being careful to preserve the few bullets he had. He couldn’t get close to the briefcase; he had to deal with the Soldier first. Luckily, backup wasn’t too far behind, as Pyro came down the flight of stairs directly behind the BLU Soldier. Pyro let loose a blast of hot flames from their Backburner, setting him ablaze and turning him into ash.

“Mmmph!” Pyro gave Heavy a rather proud thumbs-up.

Taking this chance, he slung the intelligence over his back with Pyro following behind. It was a close call for sure, and took far too long, but it had been worth it.

“We have taken the enemy intelligence.”

The two moved quickly, passing by a few other teammates who were leaving respawn. From the looks of it, the distraction was a huge success even if the team ended up suffering a few casualties in the process. Medic, who was following after Demo and Soldier, gave Heavy a winning smile as they passed each other.

“Success! We have secured the enemy intelligence!”

Score: 2 | 1

They were winning. For now.

After Pyro spy-checked the area, they departed, leaving Heavy as they went to help out in the sewers of the base. According to what Spy had been relaying to the rest of the group, an enemy Scout and Engineer were attempting to set up a sentry nest down there. Maybe Heavy should think about helping out as well.

As soon as he stooped to reach down and grab his minigun, he felt someone coming in behind him. Before he could turn around, the BLU Scout, who, judging by the scorch marks all over him, had managed to slip past Pyro and was rushing through the back entrance of the intel room. He immediately took advantage of Heavy’s distracted state and scooped up the RED team’s intel.

“Alert! The enemy has taken our intelligence!”

Before Heavy could make any attempt to stop the Scout, he had bolted out the door, not wasting any time trying to get the intel back to his base. Letting out a frustrated yell, Heavy did his best to shoot at him; but he was long gone before any bullets could find their target. All Heavy could do was desperately hope that somebody else would get to him and reclaim the intel.

In the meantime though, he had to deal with the BLU Demo, who he saw was planting all the sticky bombs he could muster at the RED base entrance. Heavy managed to scare him off by firing his minigun at him.

“You’ve failed. The enemy has captured our intelligence.”

Score: 2 | 2

Things were about to get a whole lot worse for the RED team. Heavy knew that this was their last shot at winning the whole match; if they let the BLU team secure another intel, it would be all over.

Engineer rushed past him, no doubt heading towards their intelligence room to set up a sentry or two in there. They needed to protect their intel at all costs. Following close behind was Pyro, as their job to ensure the protection of Engineer and his equipment took great priority at this point in the match. The BLU Spy was fond of targeting him and his sentries, which he usually refrained from doing once he saw Pyro guarding them.

Heavy wouldn’t have to worry about defending the intel for now. Which was good. That meant he could join the offensive line and hopefully give them the edge they needed to secure their victory. He saw Demo and Soldier fighting on the bridge, doing their best to avoid enemy fire while shooting off plenty of their own projectiles in retaliation. 

Scout was running around the BLU team and doing his best to deal as much damage as possible with some shots from his scattergun. Medic wasn’t anywhere on the bridge, which was deeply concerning. If he wasn’t with Demo and Soldier, then where had he gone? Heavy hoped that he was fine wherever he was, and not cornered or trapped somewhere with no means of escape.

The respawn time was getting longer and longer, and it would only get worse the more it was used.

As he took cover to avoid stray rockets and bullets, Heavy did his best to avoid getting hit or injured. Without Medic there, any injuries he sustained would stay with him unless he was able to scrounge around for a stray medipack. In an attempt to dodge an enemy explosive, Demo jumped behind the pile of dirt and equipment Heavy was hiding under.

“This battle has been goin’ on all bloody day ! At this rate, we’re gonna pass out from exhaustion if tha’ bullets don’t get us!”

“We must keep pushing. They will not be able to hold forever.”

“Yeh better be right, lad. I dunno how much longer we can take… dunno where tha’ hell Medic is at either!”

The two braced themselves as a few bombs exploded overhead. Heavy felt the feeling of fear creeping up his body. Where was Medic, if not even Demo had seen him recently?

“Where did you see doktor last?”

Demo noticed the concern in Heavy’s face, now worried himself,  “I dunno where he might’ve run off to, but last I saw him was near tha’ openin’ down there.” He pointed over the side of the bridge at the BLU tunnel entrance, “I think I saw him goin’ in there with Spy, but I cannae say for sure.”

Another blast shook the bridge, sending dust and dirt flying. Demo couldn’t continue the conversation. He jumped out from behind the cover he was hiding against, firing off his own bombs and doing his best to blow the enemy to smithereens. Heavy did the same, bringing out his minigun and opening fire on the BLU Heavy who was just across the bridge. All he knew now was that he needed to get into the BLU base. All Medic had was Spy as backup, and Spy wasn’t exactly the most reliable or durable teammate.

To make matters worse, a very frantic Engineer was talking hurriedly into the earpiece Heavy was wearing. The whole team wore them for quick communication, both as a way to relay new plans without having to re-group every time and lose precious ground, and to inform the team if something was going horribly wrong. Judging by the tone in Engineer’s voice, it was the latter.

“Fellas- we’ve got a big problem. A real big problem. God damn!-” What sounded like gunfire and explosions in the background interrupted Engineer briefly, which caused him to speak even quicker, ”They’re tryin’- the bastards are tryin’ to disable our respawn! I can’t do anythin’ about it, they just- they came right outta nowhere!”

Heavy looked towards the RED base in horror, watching a huge blast shake the whole building, sending wood and concrete shooting into the air. All that was left was a huge hole in the roof and the smoking, charred remains of the respawn room. That stunt must’ve taken out all the BLUs that had set up the explosion, which must’ve been worth it to them judging by their gloating cheers.

Engineer, now in complete shock, opened the communication line again to relay one last message, ”Fellas… we- they blew the whole damn place to bits. We got one last chance to get the intel… repairing the respawn is gonna- it’s gonna take a few hours at least. We ain’t got that kinda time. Whoever is still alive by the end of the night… get that damn intel.”

Demo, Soldier and Scout, who were still nearby, had also heard the message and exchanged frightened glances at each other. Death was now a huge looming threat for the RED team.

Heavy did his best to shake the feeling of undeniable terror. He had to find Medic, because he was now the most important member of the team and the only one who could provide any support to keep them all alive. If the BLU team got to him he’d be dead. Respawn wouldn’t be able to save any of them now.

But underneath it all, Heavy just wanted to save his friend.

He made his way down the bridge. He was headed for the tunnel entrance to the BLU base, as it was his best bet to get in undetected. It would be incredibly hard for someone like him to sneak into a base so on-guard, and it almost made him wish he had Spy’s cloaking device on hand. Not that the man would ever be willing to lend any of his precious tools to the team for any reason. 

To his surprise, nobody was guarding the lower levels of the base, but neither Medic nor Spy appeared to be down there either… which meant there was an increased likelihood that they’d already been found out by the opposing team. This only increased Heavy’s determination to find them.

Creeping up another flight of stairs, he peered over the top step carefully. He prayed that the BLU Spy wasn’t around, waiting for someone from the RED team to come sneaking in. Nobody seemed to be around. Maybe the majority of the BLU team were still worried about Soldier and Demo, who were continuing to make the push on the bridge and doing their best to rain hell down on the opposing team. Heavy decided to make his way to the BLUs intel room in the hopes that Spy and Medic managed to station themselves in there and stay alive.

As he looked into the room, he felt his heart drop into his stomach. Medic was definitely in there, surrounded by the remnants of a BLU sentry. Spy didn’t seem to be anywhere. The doctor was looking absolutely terrible, covered in blood and concrete dust. He was doing his best to stop the blood loss by applying pressure onto his gaping wounds with his torn coat; one of his hands had been blown clean off, along with a good chunk of his side. How he was still alive, or even conscious for that matter, was honestly impressive. Heavy didn’t stop to think about it. He had no time to waste.

“DOKTOR!” Rushing over to Medic’s side, he frantically pulled out a sandwich specially made to revive others. It had the ability to restore a good amount of health, and something he had invented with Medic a few days prior. Combining the medi-fluid with something simple, edible, and easy to carry had been their little collaborative project.

Medic took the sandwich gratefully, his face so pale and ghastly that it made him look skeletal. His glasses were bent and a lens was cracked, his hair and clothes a ripped-up mess. Blood was absolutely everywhere, as if someone dumped a huge bucket of it all over the walls and floor.

Heavy was careful not to pick up the intelligence, knowing that the BLU team would come running if they heard it being taken. Their alert system would give them away instantly, and Heavy couldn’t risk it. Once Medic was looking considerably better, thankfully regaining his hand through the combined sandwich healing factor and his own, he shakily stood up to grab his fallen Medigun.

“Oh… Scheiße.” Medic whispered. The Medigun fell apart in his hands, having been destroyed in the aftermath of his risky fight with the sentry.

“Doktor… where is Spy? What happened?”

Medic turned around with a gaunt expression. He dropped his mangled, useless weapon to the ground.

“He- he, vell,… he sacrificed himself. Took one sentry down, but ze ozher one got to him as soon as he destroyed it.” He pointed at the ledge on the other side of the room, where even more blood and machine bits were scattered. Spy wouldn’t be coming back until the respawn was enabled again. The man was certainly more noble than he let on.

“Ze sentry got me as vell… I barely dodged in time to avoid ze missiles. You can see how zhat vent.” He indicated to his now destroyed Medigun, and the prominent un-healed hole in his side. The sandwich wasn’t enough to heal him fully, and his healing factor was slowed down due to losing so much of his medi-fluid infused blood.

”If you hadn’t come vhen you did, Heavy, I vould surely be dead. Danke, mein freund.”

“Thanks come after, doktor. We must get out of here first.”

“Agreed.” Medic proceeded to pull out his syringe gun, using some stray ammo packs from the fallen sentry. He wouldn’t be able to heal now, but he could still deal a bit of damage if he needed to.

“I vill cover you. Now take ze intelligence so ve can get ze hell out of here.”

Heavy grabbed the intelligence, causing the BLU base’s alarms to go off. Time was of the essence, and if they wanted to escape they had to make it quick.

“We have taken the enemy intelligence.”

They’d managed to take care of the few BLU mercs who did their best to rush the duo, with an unfortunate BLU Scout receiving a bonesaw to the face and a Pyro getting filled with bullets from Heavy’s shotgun. The two slashed and punched, shot and fired at anyone who dared get close. They worked in perfect harmony, pushing their way out of the BLU base, trying to keep each other alive.

The pair skirted around a BLU Sniper who was doing his best to pick them off with his rifle, continuing across the explosion-marked bridge. They were both filled with pure determination, not stopping for any reason until they had made it all the way back to the intel room. Soldier and Demo whooped and hollered, abandoning the bridge and following after them to give them some cover. As they pushed through the rubble in the RED base, Engineer looked up to see the group rushing towards the intel room. He’d been working feverishly to repair the damage, but he dropped his tools in surprise and glee at the sight of them. Heavy dropped the briefcase onto the intel point with the rest of the captured intelligence.

“Success! We have secured the enemy intelligence!”

“Victory.”

Score: 3 | 2

The rest of the RED team that managed to survive the round erupted in cheering and applause, rushing to the intel room to give Heavy and Medic cheers and celebratory slaps on the back.

Heavy had swept Medic up into an incredibly bone crushing hug, lifting him off the ground. The two were laughing enthusiastically, sharing in their combined delight at the victory. Medic had to take a breather. He still needed to grab a spare medipack and heal the large hole in his side, which had been forgotten in all the excitement.

“I can’t believe we just frickin’ won! Even without the respawn!” Scout, who’d sustained a great deal of injury, was leaning against a wall. Even though he was in pain he was still able to cheer and celebrate with the rest of the team.

Engineer laughed, patting him on the back, “I can’t believe it either, son. But we sure as hell did it, and it was all thanks to our winnin’ duo.” He looked proudly at Heavy and Medic, who were getting absolutely smothered by a group hug. Medic wasn’t having it, already having reached his limit when Heavy gave him one. He began threatening loudly with his bonesaw, causing everyone to back up quickly. Heavy didn’t seem to mind the group hug as much.

Engineer’s smile was replaced with a concerned expression,“Still… looks like we lost Spy, Sniper an’ Pyro in th’ battle.”

Scout looked very worried at that, “Well- we can just repair the respawn right? They ain’t dead forever-”

Engineer interrupted him before he got carried away, “No, son. They aren’t dead forever. It’ll just take a bit of work is all, but the BLU’s are probably doin’ their best to get th’ hell outta here, so we got plenty of time to fix it all up before we head back home.”

“Oh- oh good.” Scout looked very relieved at the news, but then realized his stone-cold badass persona was faltering, “I mean- not that I care about em’ or nothin’. ‘Cause I don’t.”

Engineer chuckled, giving Scout a fatherly pat on the back as he leaned down and gathered up the tools he had. If they wanted to all get home by tomorrow, he’d need to get to work asap. The respawn room wasn’t gonna rebuild itself.

– A few hours later –

The team had pitched in to help Engineer repair the respawn, turning it back online and connecting it with the required power sources to get it back up and running. It took a while, so the team decided to break out some cards and chat while they waited for their lost teammates to come back from death. 

With some explanation from Engineer about the situation, apparently this sort of sabotage had happened several months prior, around the beginning of the Gravel Wars. Respawn technology had just been fully implemented thanks to the work of Engineer, but some of the blueprints used to create it were stolen by the BLU team. During their theft they managed to knock the RED team’s own systems offline, rendering them helpless for an entire week. Heavy hadn’t been around at the time to see it take place much to his relief. In the end, Engineer managed to make new blueprints along with an updated system, and he’d taught himself what to do just in case that sort of situation happened again.

Those who hadn’t been around during that time either, such as Scout and Medic, looked pretty relieved at the news that the RED team were somewhat prepared for a crisis like this. Engineer knew what he was doing. Heavy could certainly appreciate the man’s ingenuity and planning.

Suddenly, a flash of red light appeared in the room, causing the team to jump up in surprise. As cards went flying, a very dazed Pyro appeared on the ground, Sniper and Spy following not long after. They all looked stunned, as if someone had hit them each over the head with a shovel. Sniper even had to run over to a nearby bucket and throw up in it. Being dead for several hours and stuck in respawn limbo must have been a very uncomfortable and confusing experience.

Once everyone had packed up, with Heavy carrying all three of the stolen BLU intel in his arms, they climbed into their old transport bus. It was how they were all able to get from place to place after missions, since some of the team either couldn’t afford cars of their own, or because their vehicles were constantly blown up or destroyed if they got parked too close to the battlefield. It happened a lot more than one would think.

The bus itself however, well… It was hard to call it a vehicle to any degree. When Heavy first saw it he legitimately wondered if it had been pulled out of a garbage pile somewhere; Scout proudly said yes to that, saying that it took him and Soldier all day to move it from the Teufort Dump to the base. The bus itself was a welded together nightmare, as it was composed of several different car parts all mushed together with half-broken welding tools and the occasional poorly spray-painted RED team logo. The only part that Engineer had ended up helping with was the engine, because he found it more amusing to see Soldier, Demo and Scout attempt to make their own transportation bus on their own. 

And no, it wasn’t because Mann Co. decided to be stingy that day; it was actually supposed to be a personal ‘bonding project’ for the RED team at the time that they had unfortunately taken to heart. Against all odds the bus did work, even if the ancient air conditioning cut out half the time and the seats started heating up because Demo thought it would’ve been funny to shove live wires under them to keep everyone warm for the ‘cold winter nights’. But it could have been worse.

The rest of the night passed quickly, morning rays peeking over purple and gray mountaintops on the horizon.The mercs took this time to rest, as they did after every battle. Scout passed out before he could start bragging about all the kills he racked up, ending up sprawling across two whole seats. Heavy had no doubt in his mind he’d have plenty to talk about once he was awake.

 
Sniper and Spy were sitting together, trying not to doze off. It was like a silent battle of wills between the two to see who could stay up the longest. They both failed pretty quick, as they ended up laying against each other and falling asleep promptly.

Pyro and Engineer were driving the vehicle, taking turns frequently so the other could get some rest. Pyro was a surprisingly great driver, as they proudly showed off their impressive track record of having approximately zero traffic violations. Compared to some of the trouble the other mercs had gotten into, Pyro was granted the ‘designated driver’ of the group when Miss Pauling wasn’t around, deemed the only one truly responsible enough to hold the title. Even Engineer had been pulled over for driving some sort of strange machine abomination in Texas a few times (from what Heavy had been told).

Soldier and Demo were talking to each other as usual, being surprisingly mindful of everyone’s tired states and keeping their voices to a somewhat quiet level. Nobody had to listen too hard to what they were talking about, though, as they relished in the exploded enemy tally they managed together. It was something they greatly enjoyed doing after every battle, making sure to scratch their combined winnings on the sides of the bus.

Heavy remained awake, doing his best not to move the sleeping doctor next to him. He wouldn’t dare move a muscle, not when Medic was sleeping so peacefully against his arm. This sort of thing seemed to happen a lot; Pyro and Scout were also prone to falling asleep on him if they wound up next to him after an exhausting mission. Still, Heavy did his best to remain as motionless as possible, because it honestly seemed like Medic needed the rest.

Scout woke up about an hour or so later, and he thought it was pretty hilarious seeing the normally uptight and cruel doctor dozing on a teammate's shoulder in such an informal way. He was about to pass out from silent laughter until Heavy shot him with the most menacing glare he could muster, which shut him up quick. 

Scout was still pretty amused, but did his best to hide his grin behind his hands. He nearly broke out into even more giggling as he spotted Spy and Sniper sleeping against each other, whispering about how badly he wished he had a camera.

With a collective sigh of relief, the team (and the vehicle) made it all the way back to base in one piece. However, Heavy felt like the hardest part of the trip would have to be trying to wake up Medic. Carefully.

Heavy was about to gently shake him awake, with Scout sitting down again and deciding to watch the whole thing unfold.

“Be careful wakin’ him up big guy. Maybe you should poke him with a long stick. Like, maybe 100 feet away. Then back up real fast- ”

“I advise you to back up fast, so I do not crush your tiny neck.”

Scout scooted farther in his seat, “Yeah yeah, point taken.”

Heavy turned to look at Medic again, doing his best to wake him up as gently as possible.

“Ugh.. vhat?” He rubbed his eyes tiredly, and adjusted his crooked glasses. He looked up into Heavy’s face blearily. After about 20 seconds of hard thinking, Medic realized he was leaning up against him.

His groggy expression turned into one of pure surprise and embarrassment, nearly falling out of the seat as he scrambled to sit up and scooch away. Scout was doing his best not to bust out into another round of hysterics.

“I- you- vhas I laying against you?” Medic stuttered, doing his best to fix his wrinkled coat and hair.

“It is okay doktor. I do not mind. Happens with other teammates all the time.”

Medic did not seem reassured at all. His face was flush from humiliation, as if he couldn’t bear the thought of his teammates seeing him like this. Heavy laid a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, which helped.

Once the transport bus had stopped completely, Medic was first to leave it, angrily muttering as he dragged a very upset Scout all the way to the infirmary. The younger merc thought it would be a good idea to get snarky with him now that the doctor was awake and ended up with a syringe in his arm. Heavy shook his head with a sigh as he stepped out of the vehicle, watching the two argue all the up the hill. He never understood what went through Scout’s head to make him think teasing Medic would end well for him. Maybe one day he’d learn, but Heavy seriously doubted it.

The rest of the team, all worn out from the battle, took to cleaning themselves up and going to their respective rooms for some well-deserved shut-eye.

Translations:

Russian:
Беги туда, они не смогут нас выследить таким образом. Продолжай, не останавливайся, не дай им добраться до нас ( Begi tuda, oni ne smogut nas vysledit' takim obrazom. Prodolzhay, ne ostanavlivaysya, ne day im dobrat'sya do nas) - Run over there, they won't be able to track us that way. Keep going, don't stop, don't let them get to us
Мы знаем, что происходит, когда они делают (My znayem, chto proiskhodit, kogda oni delayut) - We know what happens when they do

Я надеюсь (YA nadeyus’) - I hope
намного лучше (namnogo luchshe) - Much better

German:
Ich habe - I have
Mein - My
Scheiße - Shit

Chapter Text

– Tuesday –

“Carefully… carefully…”

Medic had successfully managed to make the incision in his chest, break open his rib cage and spread them apart, and made sure to adjust the settings on his new variation of the Medigun to ensure that he wouldn’t bleed out, lose oxygen or pass out from the pain of the procedure. But the hardest part so far was making sure he got his heart out safely so he could apply the ÜberCharge mechanism to it without damaging anything. He couldn’t risk the only heart he had on hand (which also happened to be his own).

He’d been performing the first ever ÜberCharge surgery on himself. It was common practice for him to test most things on himself first, and after his conversation with Heavy about who would be his first subject, he decided it would be better if he did it on himself first and foremost. 

He needed to make sure this would work before he could use it out on the field after all. But it was taking much longer than he thought it would. He had been working on this surgery for several painstaking hours, and he had honestly never sweated so much in his life.

Slowly and carefully, he removed his heart from his chest cavity. It was still very much alive and beating thanks to the work of the Medigun, which was emitting a faint red glow. As Medic steadied his trembling hand, in awe of his own accomplishments, he grabbed the Übermaker (which he thought was a rather clever name for the device) from the operating table next to him, and just as he was about to insert it directly into his heart he heard three resounding knocks on the door, making him drop his Übermaker out of surprise.

What in the world could Heavy possibly want right now?

“Doktor? Is surgery going fine?” He had opened the door and was looking in curiously.

Medic was utterly furious. The interruption caused him to drop his valuable invention on the floor, unable to retrieve it, ”Vhat do you vant? I am busy here, dummkopf!”

Heavy stepped in sheepishly, seeing the very angry Medic on the operating table with his heart in his hand. He noticed the dropped Übermaker on the ground and picked it up.

“Give it here! Quickly!” Heavy dropped the device into Medic’s outstretched hand, which he then proceeded to plunge into his heart with little grace. Heavy was looking on in mild fascination and disgust, watching the man before him perform this rather gruesome surgery on himself.

The next step in the procedure that Medic had lined out was to turn on the Medigun’s newly added mechanic; the ÜberCharge. This would truly put his invention to the test. Making sure his heart was within the beam’s reach, he flicked a switch next to him, activating the charge. The Medigun hummed, the beam grew stronger, and the heart in his hand became a dark iridescent red color. It began pumping quicker, with more and more force. Medic almost feared that it would explode in his hands, but to his relief it managed to steady itself. He dropped his heart back into his chest rather unceremoniously, and proceeded to flip another switch, which increased the Medigun’s output. His ribs and the incision closed up quickly. It was as if nothing had happened at all.

Sitting up and taking a deep breath, he began cleaning up his operating table, forgetting that Heavy was still in the room and utterly confused by what he just witnessed. Medic sensed him still standing there and looked up at him.

“Vell? Vhat did you vant?”

“Just came in to check on you. You have been in here for long time.”

Sure enough, Medic looked up at the clock on the wall, and he’d been hard at work for at least 5 hours. The hardest and longest part of the surgery was just making sure everything was set up and prepared, so he wouldn’t need to get up for anything during the procedure. It was long and grueling, but he wanted to do it all by himself.

“I am fine. You can go now, Heavy.” Turning his back on him, he began writing down his observations and setting up a monitor for himself. He would need to make sure his vitals would remain stable, just in case. Medic wasn’t keen on having his heart fail on him; not when there was so much work to be done.

Glancing over his shoulder slightly, he noticed Heavy leaving with a rather hurt expression on his face. He couldn't help but feel bad about turning his friend away, but he needed to prioritize his work. It mattered more to him than anything or anyone else in the world. But it felt less and less true the more he thought about it.

Archimedes, who was mysteriously covered in blood as usual, waddled up next to him on the counter. Medic sighed, picking up and holding the bird in his hands. The little dove looked up at him with curious eyes.

“Archimedes… vhy am I so conflicted on zhis?”

He stood up from the stool he was sitting on and began to pace the length of the room. He was growing increasingly frustrated with his distracted thoughts. He had things to do, he still needed to test the ÜberCharge on himself, and see if it really did make his body impenetrable. But he couldn’t focus, he couldn’t even finish his initial notes. Archimedes was watching Medic walk around the room deep in thought. His thoughts were interrupted, as someone entered the room without knocking. He half-hoped it was Heavy coming back.

It was Spy.

“Greetings doctor. Trouble in paradise?” He must have noticed Heavy leaving the infirmary rather upset. Medic rolled his eyes at him, doing his best to hide his disappointment. Even if the man had enough heart to help him out during their last mission, it wasn’t enough to make the doctor like him fully.

“Vhat do you need, Herr Spy? I am not in ze mood.”

“I was asked to inform you of something. Several of our teammates will be leaving the base this coming Saturday. You, however, will be staying here.”

Staying? At the base? Wouldn’t they need his help out on the field?

“But- do zhey not need me out zhere?”

Spy had lit a cigarette, proceeding to take a small drag from it. Exhaling, he answered, “It is nothing personal doctor. It is just that this particular mission does not require your services. It is really more of a week-long excursion than anything else.”

Medic couldn’t help but feel as though he’d been tossed to the wayside. Even if it were just a short trip, he could still be of use…

“Vhat is zhis mission even about? Vhy vould zhey not need me? Vhat if Heavy- I mean, ze rest of the team needs mein help?”

“I didn’t know you cared about that sort of thing doctor.”

“I... don’t.”

“Sure.”

Medic glowered at him, “If you are just here to aggravate me, I vill cut off your head und shove it in mein fridge du Arschloch!”

Spy gave a mildly disgusted look and realized it probably wasn’t a good idea to get on the doctor’s bad side by frustrating him further, “The mission is for security purposes. A few of us were requested to station at an older, smaller base of ours for a few days. Nothing of interest.”

“Zhere vill be no BLU’s?”

“Non. Like I said, nothing of interest. The Administrator thought it would be in your best interest to let you tinker with your experiments here.”

“Und you are ze one telling me all zhis because…?”

“Because our dear Miss Pauling decided I would be the best person to tell you.”

Not really the best answer, but Medic wasn’t willing to ask anymore questions. His patience had been running thin and he desperately wanted Spy out of the infirmary so he could finish up his work.

“Zhat is fine. Now, if you could leave me be for ze rest of ze day zhat vould be wunderbar.”  

Spy left without another word, leaving Medic alone with his thoughts once more. Doing his best to ignore them, he continued working, taking as many notes and observations as possible and working well into the afternoon.

– A few hours later –

Medic made his way downstairs after completing his initial observations and making note of complications with the surgery (which there were none of, of course). He wanted to continue working, but with much nagging from Archimedes and some of the other doves he was forced to trudge downstairs to get himself something to eat. As per normal surgical practice, he had refrained from eating or drinking anything for several hours before and after it. Medic would’ve preferred to just go straight to sleep, but his birds managed to convince him otherwise. He had the peck marks to prove it.

Surprisingly the common room was not occupied. It was 11 PM, as stated by the old half-destroyed grandfather clock sitting against the wall, but the mercs usually stayed up quite late. However, when he walked down the hallway to the kitchen, the light was on and the door ajar. He could hear voices inside. Medic stood for a moment and sighed. I was really hoping not to talk to anyone else today…

No point in turning back now. Opening the door a bit more, he poked his head in and saw Heavy and Demo chatting and making some food together. The pair looked towards the door to see Medic peeking in. Heavy had a wane smile on his face, clearly still a little sad from how Medic had treated him earlier. The doctor felt a pang of guilt.
Demo, not picking up on the awkwardness between the two, beamed at Medic as he chopped up some vegetables and dropped them into a pot boiling away on the stove.

“Hullo doc! Would ya’ like some of the stew ahm makin’?” He pointed at the pot, which was full of a rather delicious-smelling vegetable stew of some kind, “It’s some good ol’ Scotch broth! It’s me mum’s recipe, an’ a bloody good one.”

Medic was impressed that Demo was capable of making a meal, especially drunk, and it made him wonder what else the Scotsman was capable of. Maybe, if he could somehow extract the alcohol from his system he could-

“Doktor. Can we talk?”

Glancing up at Heavy, Medic felt nervous. It must have been the first time in years since he’d felt nervous about something.

“I suppose. Vhat do you vant to talk about?”

Heavy nodded at the door indicating that he wanted to talk out of Demo’s earshot. Demo, still working on the stew, was whistling away and probably doing his best not to accidentally eavesdrop on their conversation. Once they’d stepped out of the kitchen into the dark hallway, Heavy crossed his arms seriously.

“I will be going on mission soon doktor. Wanted to let you know. Do you know about mission?”

“Vell, ja. But if zhat is all you vanted to tell me zhen vhy did we-”

“You know about mission. Good. But it was not all I wanted to talk about.”

The two looked at each other for a brief moment. Medic had no idea what he wanted to say, but it was starting to make him slightly anxious. Was Heavy mad? Would he refuse to do the ÜberCharge surgery? What if he didn’t want to be friends anymore?

“Are you mad at me doktor?”

Medic was taken aback at the question, “Vhat? Nein! I am not mad at you! Vas it because of zhis morning?”

“Not just this morning. It feels like I have made you angry a lot. I grow worried. If you are not happy with my friendship, then that is okay.”

“Mein freund, I am not angry. I get frustrated vhen mein vork is interrupted… but I value our friendship. I am sorry.”

Heavy let out a big sigh of relief, as if it had been weighing on his mind heavily. He scooped Medic up in a big hug, who was feeling even guiltier. He’d made his friend believe that he’d been angry at him for who knows how many days. At least Heavy didn’t seem too upset about it now; in fact, he was positively beaming. They went back into the kitchen as Demo proudly announced that the stew was ready. The three of them ate, and Medic was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. Demo must’ve seen the look of satisfaction on his face, because he laughed loudly and gave Medic a hearty pat on the back, letting him know he could ask for the recipe if he wanted. It was a tempting offer.

Heavy was the first to finish up. He said he needed to go to sleep, since he had to prepare for the mission the tomorrow and he wanted to be well rested. A fair enough reason, but Medic was still a tiny bit sad to see him go.

“Say doc, how come yeh aren’t goin’ on the trip yerself?”

Medic turned away from the door Heavy had left through to look at Demo. His eyebrows furrowed at the question.

“I vas told I vas not needed. Zhat is all.”

Demo became visibly confused at that, “Really? I mean, they didn’ invite me either. But yer different. Yer th’ doctor!”

“It vas just vhat zhey told me. I vill just be of use in ozher ways.”

“Still, ya think they'd still bring ya along. But hey, even without yer pal ye can always hang out with th’ rest of us that are stayin’ behind!”

“I vill zhink about it.”

Medic didn’t really have any intention of talking with the others while Heavy was away. Sure, it was fun telling them a story or two, but just making meaningless conversation like this was grating. Heavy seemed to be the only person who could make talking about boring things into something interesting.

When he went back up to his room that night, he laid awake, thinking about all that had happened that day. He never fell asleep. He was too busy listening to his heart.

– Thursday –

“Okay guys, let’s get going!” Miss Pauling called out. Heavy, Sniper, Soldier, Engineer and Spy all clamored onto the transport truck, which Miss Pauling had graciously lent in place of their usual dilapidated bus. The rest of the team would be staying behind, since the outpost the other half would be stationed at that week was small enough that the whole team did not need to travel there. Still, disappointment could be felt in those that were ordered to maintain position at the main base; some, like Scout, were always itching for the next fight and were put out when they were denied the chance. Others, like Pyro (and Medic, although he wouldn’t admit it) were just sad to see their friends go.

Medic just couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness watching Heavy wave goodbye to him. It would only be a week, sure, and they had only known each other for a little over 3, but he still felt miserable that the only person he thought was worth talking to would be gone for so long. It was even more depressing when he realized he’d have to deal with Scout who, unfortunately for Medic, would not be going on the trip.

Once the transport truck left, Medic decided to prepare for the next phase of his ÜberCharge plan; his next subject for surgery was going to be Heavy, but that would need to be postponed now. He considered maybe doing one of the other mercs first instead, but with some more thought decided it would be better to just wait. 

He still needed to prepare for the next set of surgeries anyways, making plans and figuring out how to explain to his teammates that he needed to cut them open, shove a large metal device into their hearts, and use them to foster one of his greatest creations. But the more he thought about it the less sure he was that any of them would agree. The others could never see his wonderful invention like he could… they’d probably just be disgusted. Or terrified. And he needed their consent to perform the surgeries.

Medic sat at his desk, thinking hard. Maybe, if he did end up doing Heavy first and was able to show the glory of the ÜberCharge on the battlefield, perhaps the other mercs would be more inclined to say yes. It could work. But, it also meant waiting a whole week…

Sighing to himself, he decided to try and occupy his time doing something more productive. No point in sitting around doing nothing for the rest of the day. He cycled through his options; he could practice his aim and defense tactics Heavy had taught him. Maybe some other day… practicing wasn’t any fun without Heavy. He could rearrange his books! No, they were always fairly organized.

Medic then remembered that he’d actually received a new cadaver from Miss Pauling recently! He never asked where she got so many fresh specimens, but it really didn’t matter. He had plenty of them, and the grand idea of digging around in some insides certainly cheered him up.

He made his way over to one of the old freezers in the base. It was near the infirmary, with the entrance being in a wall near the outside entrance to it. It was a small, tucked-away door, and Medic made sure nobody else used it before using it himself. He wasn’t sure why there were so many fresh vegetables when he first looked around in the freezer, though, and thought that maybe whoever was there last didn’t understand the real purpose behind freezers; storing various body parts!

Unlocking the heavy bolt on the door, he stepped in and was embraced by the chilled air. Sometimes he’d go to the freezer just to cool off, if the infirmary got too hot in the afternoons. It had a lot of windows, which created a greenhouse effect on some days. There were also a surprising amount of issues with the air conditioning. As he observed the various bodies he had stored, he found the fresh one he was looking for and lugged it back to the infirmary.

Once Medic had the body on his operating table, he snapped on his signature red gloves. Archimedes flew down from a shelf somewhere in the room, landing on the head of the operating chair. He was leaning in as Medic began making the Y-shaped incision, starting his own personal version of a postmortem examination. ‘Examination’ may not have been the best word for it; he was honestly just having fun.

“Look at zhis Archimedes! Zhis man must hafe had cecal volvulus! See how ze beginning of ze colon here is twisted? I just vonder if it happened before or after death… perhaps he vas going to get it fixed. Too late for zhat now! Hehehe…”

He was holding up a rather disgustingly swollen part of the large intestines, showing it to a  bloody and filthy Archimedes, who had been spending most of his time rooting around in the man's lungs. He merely cooed in response.

“I vas lucky enough to receive zhis corpse before rigor mortis… it alvays makes moving ze body around so hard!”  Medic continued his rummaging, making passing comments on certain things he noticed. As he worked, he began to hum whatever melodies he remembered. Even if Heavy wasn’t around, he could always turn to his hobbies to keep him occupied.

Alas, it was not meant to last. Medic was salvaging a few of the organs that seemed fine and putting them into containers once they had been flushed of all their blood. He was holding a kidney and about to put it into some solution when suddenly Scout came bursting in. Medic nearly let the kidney slip right out of his hands.

He furiously turned on Scout, who had the most revolted look on his face as he eyed the cadaver, “What th’ hell is that doc? Urgh!” He pinched his nose as if the smell offended him.

“I nearly dropped mein kidney! Du Narr! Vhat do you vant you blubbering dummkopf?”

Scout, who was still reeling at the sight of the body on the operating table, was even more put off by Medic’s appearance. He was incredibly angry and covered in blood and other fluids, making him look sinister. It didn’t help that he was slowly reaching for the bonesaw on the counter threateningly.

“I was- I was just uhhh… oh wait! Me and the others were wonderin’ if you wanted to play some poker? But I mean if you’re busy or whatever I can just go right now an’-”

“Not interested.”

“Oh. Okay. Cool, cool. That’s fine. So I’ll just leave I guess. Yeah.” Scout waited a moment, as if expecting Medic to change his mind. It was obvious he didn’t want to be there, so he gave up after realizing the doctor had no intention of leaving the infirmary, leaving with a loud dramatic sigh.

Medic did his best to finish up his work. He was able to get out all the organs that were still somewhat usable and left the rest inside the body. Even the cleaning-up process was relaxing, despite Scout giving him a heart-attack during the middle of it. There was some satisfaction in putting everything into the right spots and finding a new place for the body. Once that was all well and done, everything cleaned and sorted, Medic sinked into his usual armchair and read for a while. He’d unfortunately ran out of books to read and resorted to re-reading one of his favorites.

Medic remembered how many books Heavy had, and how he even had quite a few written in German. He would’ve loved to ask to borrow some… but Heavy wasn’t here. And Medic wasn’t about to snoop around in his friend’s room like that. He had some standards! Sighing, he set the book he was reading down. What else could he do?

You could always play poker.

Yeah, but I don’t want to play with… them.

You’ll have to get used to them sometime. They’re your teammates.

Groaning at his own inner dialogue, he got up from his chair and trudged downstairs. He had nothing else to do that day, and he wasn’t keen on spending it doing nothing. Medic always needed to keep himself occupied somehow, even if it meant having to spend time with the other mercenaries. He just hoped they wouldn’t talk too much. Which was foolish thinking on his part. 

As Medic made his way to the common area, he heard voices coming from the artillery room. He stopped, turning down a different hallway and opening the door to the room. Sure enough, Demo, Scout and Pyro were sitting in an awkward circle on the floor, weapons scattered about. The three of them looked up to see Medic standing in the doorway. They all seemed surprised by his arrival, but Demo switched over to cheerfulness pretty quick.

“Hullo laddie! Ye wanna join us for some cards? We were practicin’ our weapons but decided to break em’ out!”

“... Sure. Vhy not.”

“Alrighty then! Ye can sit next ta’ me an’ Pyro! Scooch over will yeh?” He said to Pyro, who moved over and patted the ground beside them, offering it up for Medic. He sat down awkwardly between the two. Scout was sitting across from him, cross-legged and grinning sheepishly.

“Vait. If ve are playing poker, vhere are ze chips?” Medic asked.

Demo looked confused for a second, then shot a glare at Scout, “We aren’t playin’ bloody poker! We’re playin’ group Solitaire!”

Scout scowled, “No we frickin’ aren’t! I said that we’re playin’ poker! It’s cooler!”

Pyro, who was sitting with their own cards, also got visibly irritated. They let out a bunch of mumbles and angry muffled remarks.

“Ah give it a rest will yeh Pyro? We ain’t playin’ Go Fish either!”

“Yeah! We’re playin’ POKER! Not stupid games for chucklenuts!”

“WE’RE PLAYIN’ GROUP SOLITAIRE YA WEE BLOODY TADGER!”

“Mppph! MMPPH!”

Medic backed up quick, knowing what was about to happen. The three of them instantly started fighting, throwing punches and jabs at each other. Demo got Scout square in the face with his fist, then proceeded to get the wind knocked out of him by a well-placed elbow from Pyro. Cards went flying all over the place. Medic was doing his best to avoid getting hit, scrambling to a corner of the room. Eventually Scout got knocked out cold after a good blow to the head, which resulted in Medic frustratedly yelling at the lot of them to stop or else he’d run them all through with his bonesaw.

The four of them made their way to the infirmary, because now Demo had a split lip and Pyro’s shoulder was bruised (according to them), and Scout needed to get checked for a concussion. Medic was irritated with all of them. Which always seemed to be a regular occurance. It hadn’t even been a full day since the other mercs had left, and there had already been a large scuffle.

As Medic tended to their wounds, Pyro and Demo asked him about the things he had laying around the infirmary. He didn’t appreciate them touching his things, but they seemed genuinely curious about it all, so Medic did his best to answer their questions. While they talked, Demo had a great time with the doves, talking about his time raising carrier pigeons as a child. This made the doctor rather impressed.

“You hafe raised birds as vell?”

“Oh yeah! I had a lotta’ them as a wee lad, an’ I took good care of em’ too. Even taught em’ how to drop lil’ firecrackers on th’ lads that used ta’ bully me! A bloody good time in me youth if I do say so meself.” Demo said cheerfully, petting one of Medic’s doves as he reminisced on the explosive fun of his youth. The little bird was cooing happily in his hands.

“Zhat is very impressive Herr Demo. Mein doves mostly just remind me to do zhings… zhey are quite good at making sure zhey are fed.”

Pyro was listening to the conversation, sitting on a counter and swinging their legs happily. A whole bunch of birds had flocked around them, recognizing Pyro from the times they’d dropped in over the last few weeks to give them food and scratches. Medic could appreciate the two of them for being respectful to his birds.

Scout, who was laying on the operating table, was trying to rest his head. He had a swollen blackened eye which was being helped with a bag of ice. He seemed pretty uncomfortable to be laying on a table where the cadaver was not too long ago, but that was really the least of his worries. Medic didn’t feel it was important to let him know that the bag of ice had a few stored eyeballs in it.

“You weirdos and your birds… if you guys wanna good pet, dogs an’ cats are awesome. I had this real good cat when I was a kid, he was a big orange tabby an’ we called him Slugger. He was a real weird cat, cause when me an’ my brothers used to play baseball Slugger would chase after th’ ball an’ bring it back to us like we were playin’ fetch with him. He was a pretty good cat.”

Pyro instantly got excited about the new topic. They made it pretty obvious how much they loved cats by their outburst of happy noises.

“Hah! If ye think yer cat was weird, wait till yeh hear about me family’s ol’ black cat Mittens! She was a lil’ one-eyed cat, an’ she loved rollin’ around in me folk's gunpowder barrels when I moved back in with em’. She loved all th’ explosions, it was like catnip for her!”

Medic didn’t talk too much. He was more interested in hearing what they had to say. He was pleasantly surprised that they actually made him curious enough to listen in on their stories.

Their conversation was abruptly stopped when they heard something crash in the distance, somewhere deep in the base. Medic narrowed his eyes, instinctively picking up a bonesaw from a nearby counter. The group silently looked at each other, then crept quietly out of the infirmary towards the source of the noise. Along the way Demo had managed to find a broken bottle and wield it as a weapon, Scout and Pyro following close behind with their own weapons. Another louder sound came from upstairs, so they made their way up carefully so as not to make a sound.

They entered a room where someone had been rummaging around, with papers strewn across the room and drawers flung open. Whoever was just here must have been looking for something important. 

As if appearing from a shadow, a familiar figure moved into the light. It was Miss Pauling. 

That’s not right…

“Ah, Medic, I was just looking for-”

Without a second thought, Medic plunged his bonesaw right through her. Scout and Demo let out a cry of protest and anger. Pyro gasped and covered their face with their hands. 

The group then slowly realized what Medic had done. Miss Pauling’s purple clothes changed to a light blue suit, her shocked expression morphing into an angry and pained BLU Spy’s one. Medic withdrew his weapon from the Spy’s abdomen, spraying blood all over the floor. He dropped to his knees and gasped, clouds of smoke rolling off of him as his disguise was unveiled.

“Ze BLU Spy. Tsk tsk.”

“Holy crap! What the hell is he doin’ here?”

Pyro shrugged confusedly. Demo looked just as lost.

“Do ze BLUs not often attack ze base on off-days?” Medic asked, turning away from the BLU Spy who had fallen to the floor in a heap.

“No! This hasn’t happened before! Oh god this is bad… what if there’s more of em’?”

The BLU Spy coughed and grimaced as he tried to hold his gaping wound closed, looking up at the group, “Ugh… you idiots . I am the only one.”

Medic glowered at the man on the ground, “Scout. Run around ze base, make sure zhere is nobody else. Make sure to take your earpiece. If you need back-up, let us know.”

“O- okay doc. If you say so.” Scout turned without a second thought and sprinted back down the steps.

Medic looked at Pyro and Demo next, “I vill need you two to help me bring ze Spy to ze infirmary. I vill need to interrogate him.”

The BLU Spy widened his eyes in fear, his face becoming increasingly paler. The doctor looked him straight in the eyes as Demo and Pyro bent down to pick him up.

“I am going to make zhis hurt.”

Translations:

German:
Dummkopf - Idiot
Herr - Mr
Du Arschloch - You asshole
Wunderbar - Wonderful
Mein freund - My friend
Nein - No
Du Narr - You fool

Chapter Text

– Day 1 - Thursday –

The ride to the base took half the day. Heavy didn’t mind, as it gave him a chance to get some much needed sleep. Thankfully none of the others were too noisy, not even Soldier (who was usually the loudest out of all of them) was as bombastic as he usually was. He had managed to tone it down for those who were resting during the ride, which was oddly considerate of him.

The group eventually arrived at a small outlook base located near Landfall, a larger base set in a logging area which was primarily meant to hold intel. The whole area was populated with large fern trees that made a dense forest, covering the landscape and beyond. It was a quiet and peaceful environment and despite the ever present heat during the summer months, it reminded Heavy of home. He always enjoyed doing missions at Landfall for that reason.

The rest of the day wasn’t too exciting. Heavy was ordered to position himself near a back entrance and keep watch for a few hours, then switch out to a different area of the base as part of their rotations. Even if seeing BLUs was a possibility, they almost never attacked on these minor patrol missions. These sorts of missions were mostly done around intel locations, and were ordered by the Administrator just in case the BLU team decided to make a move. It was getting harder and harder to predict their next plan nowadays, so these small guard missions had started to become more essential even if they were uninteresting most of the time.

As he sat, gazing into the woods passing by, his mind began to drift off, which he was always prone to do.

He wondered what his family was up to at that moment. If they were happy and safe. Hopefully, with the extra cash he was able to send them that month, they’d be able to afford something better than bear meat. Heavy wasn’t always able to get information on their well-being, with sending letters and mail so difficult and expensive, but he could still speculate and read the few letters he received each month.

Eventually his daydreaming traveled to the topic of books, another very thought about topic in his mind. Heavy started to think about the books he’d brought with him on the trip, all the varying literary works he had brought, on poetry, history, and even some stories of love. He forgot to grab one during his first shift. He’d have to next time, so he wouldn’t need to resort to his thoughts for entertainment. Slowly, his mind drifted to something other than books. His friend. Medic. 

Heavy had never been friends with someone so odd. They’d known one another for only a few weeks, and yet Heavy already saw the man as an incredibly good friend. Sure, he was unethical in his practices at best, had a bloodthirstiness that could rival a full-grown grizzly bear, and had enough energy and boundless enthusiasm to give an elephant a heart-attack, but what wasn’t there to like? 

Even still, he was a fun person to be around. Medic told great jokes and stories and always seemed interested in what Heavy had to say, which was something he was very grateful for. It felt like the other mercs always assumed that Heavy wasn’t nearly as smart as he seemed due to his large size and thick accent, but Medic was one of the few who hadn’t judged him openly at first sight. It was a relief talking to someone who treated him as an intellectual equal.

Heavy sat at his post and watched the sun sink lower in the sky and eventually falling behind the trees. He was finally freed from his thoughts when he felt Sniper’s hand on his shoulder shaking him out of his daze. He hadn’t even realized that it was time to switch posts with him. 

“You doin’ okay mate? You were lookin’ kinda out of it.”

“Hm? Yes, I am fine.” He got up without another word. 

Sniper watched him leave, mild concern on his face.

Remarkably, when it was time for dinner Engineer wasn’t the one cooking; it was Soldier. He had managed to bring an entire barbeque grill with him along with several slabs of varying types of meat, which must’ve been rather hard to get. The grilled meat didn’t look too bad either, which was a pleasant surprise. As Soldier flipped slabs of steak and sang off-key songs about the glory of America, Heavy decided to chat with Engineer and Sniper like he’d usually done. Spy was off somewhere else, but came back once all the food was done. He even paid Soldier a compliment on his BBQ skills once they all sat as a group to eat.

Once everyone was finished with their meals, they all made their way back to their respective rooms. Heavy chose to stay up and read for a time, eventually falling asleep with the book still in his hand.

– Day 2 - Friday –

Getting up the next morning wasn’t too bad. He wasn’t stationed at a post that morning so sleeping in was an option. Unfortunately the option would be ripped away from him once Soldier started his rocket-jumping practice. It took Heavy 20 minutes to bring himself to even get out of bed, trying desperately to fall asleep again to no avail. 

Heavy decided to spend the day maintaining his weaponry and practicing his aim on the firing range to let off some steam. He brought out his finest and most prized weapon; Sasha. As he removed her from the large packaged box she was transported in, he proceeded to wipe the minigun down. He always made sure to polish and shine the gun carefully so as to prevent damaging it, especially before using it. As he cleaned, Engineer walked into the artillery room cradling a busted sentry in his arms.

“Howdy partner!”

“Privet, Engineer.”

The Texan set down the machine on a nearby table and began walking around the room and picking up stray tools littered on various tables and counters. Once he had everything he needed, he pulled up a stool and went straight to repairing the sentry. While he was doing that, he started up some conversation with Heavy.

“So how have things been with ya Heavy? Everythin’ goin’ alright?”

Leave it to Engineer to check up on his teammates.

“I am fine.”

Even though his eyes were covered by his goggles, Heavy could still feel Engineer’s slightly concerned gaze on him. He moved his sentry to the side and laid down the wrench in his hand.

“You sure? Sniper said you weren’t lookin’ too good yesterday.”

Heavy scoffed, ”What? Sniper cares about me now?”

“Son, we care about each other. We care about you too. Sure, we argue an’ fight, but at the end of the day we’re a team. Heck, you could even go as far as to say we’re a family. ” Engineer said kindly, giving Heavy a friendly pat on the shoulder. He didn’t know exactly how to respond to that, but Engineer’s words were comforting.

Once the two were done with their maintenance, they both took to testing their machines and weapons on the firing range. Heavy couldn’t help but be impressed with Engineer’s technical abilities. His new-improved sentry really packed a wallop, shooting bullets and small missiles at an incredible speed. It was even upgraded with a laser sight and forcefield. Both he and Heavy quickly left the firing-range in tattered ruins, targets torn to shreds by bullets. The two laughed over their triumph as they cleaned up after themselves, complimenting each other’s techniques and abilities.

What with all the noises and explosions it wasn’t long until Soldier came around and fired a few rockets himself. He ended up exploding a small shed nearby and instantly setting it ablaze. The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to smother the flames and keep it from spreading to the rest of the very wooden and flammable base. Soldier didn’t seem to have any regrets about it.

– Day 3 - Saturday –

“Mate I don’t see how it even matters. There isn’t anyone out here ‘cept us.”

“Encore ceci… that is not the point bushman. You cannot just leave your post!”

“Oh I see, so you can do it all the bloody time, but when it’s me you get all pissed about it!”

“I was tasked with keeping the whole base safe, you idiot.”

“So am I, ya bloody wanker!”

Heavy had walked in on Sniper and Spy having a frustrated argument. The two men looked over to see him standing in the doorway awkwardly, immediately stopping what they were talking about.

“Ah. Sorry to interrupt.”

As the silence between the three of them grew, Sniper took the opportunity to slip away from the argument entirely. Spy turned to see Sniper gone, which caused him to sigh, “It wasn’t exactly something you should feel sorry about. It was a pointless argument anyways.”

“Why do you two argue?” Heavy asked. He never understood the rivalry between the two, or why Spy enjoyed picking on Sniper for seemingly pointless things. He thought maybe it had something to do with Spy’s aloofness and desire for connection struggling with each other, which drove him to seek out and instigate worthless feuds with people. Heavy wasn’t about to analyze the man any further, however, knowing what Spy was capable of if he decided to dig a bit too deep.

“The man infuriates me. He thinks he is somehow above me.”

“It looks like other way around.”

That earned Heavy a mean glare from Spy, “You think you know me well, then?”

“Not as well as you know me.” Heavy answered.

Spy chuckled darkly. It was unsettling how well he knew his teammates. 

As a show of intimidation, Spy went around to all the mercs on his first day and showed them their baby pictures along with their real names, birthdates, and the places they were born. Heavy was pretty tempted to give him a good punch to the face when Spy did that to him, because he was led to believe that the man could potentially hurt his family. Spy reassured him that he wouldn’t, and that this was merely just a show of his skills. Still, it was rather uncomfortable and aggravating to have one’s identity exposed like that.

“Enough about me, then. Were you able to reconcile with your dear doctor before we left?”

Heavy was utterly taken aback by the question, “What? What do you mean ‘my’ doctor?”

“Oh come now, don’t play dumb with me Heavy. Anyone, even a fool like Scout can see your close friendship. I can count all the times you have pocketed him during a battle on both hands.” 

Feeling a blush creep up his neck and face, Heavy did his best to keep from strangling the smug man in front of him. He wasn’t about to give Spy the satisfaction.

“Me and doktor are fine. Had talk. That is all. And he is not… ‘mine.’”

“I am happy for the both of you. Cheers to the happy pairing.” Spy lifted his hand, pretending to raise a glass for a toast. He slipped away with a smug smile before Heavy could pound him into a fine paste.

– Day 4 - Sunday –

Heavy had to do patrol the next day. Walk the length of the small base and make sure nobody was snooping around. It was easy enough, almost leisurely, and he was allowed a good amount of breaks. Just as he sat down to take a quick breather, Soldier came running up behind him.

“Good morning soldier!” He said cheerfully, snapping to attention once he came into Heavy’s view and giving him a formal salute.

“Privet.”

“Private? I am no private! I am a commander! A leader!” Soldier declared.

“Erm. Okay.” Heavy didn’t really know how to talk to Soldier. The man was an enigma.

Shaking off his confusion, he asked, “What did you need?”

Soldier stood for a few seconds, thinking hard, “Oh! I almost forgot it! But I did not, I reigned it in from the depths of my mind! I was going to ask if you had some advice!”

‘Why do you ask me? What kind of advice?” Heavy seriously wondered what compelled him to ask.

Soldier had a big toothy grin appear on his face, “Because I have seen your good friendship with the doctor! I need advice on friendly activities! I am planning for me and the Demoman to go on an adventure when I get back!”

Well that was surprising. And also mildly annoying, because everyone seemed much too keen on probing Heavy about his friendship with Medic all of a sudden. But hey, he guessed he could offer the crazed American a bit of advice.

“Can always go on picnics? Or read book together? They are nice to do with friends.”

At that, Soldier immediately whipped out a battered piece of paper and a pen and scribbled what Heavy had said down on it, “ ... picnic… read… books . Affirmative!” He tucked the slip of paper under his helmet along with the pen.

“Thank you for the advice! You are a true patriot!”

“You are welcome.”

“Now I will leave you to your post! Goodbye!” He saluted Heavy again, then turned and strode back the way he came. Heavy was utterly bewildered and amused by the brief exchange.

When it was time for dinner, Heavy helped Engineer with preparing and making it. Heavy was still thinking about the little conversation he had with Soldier earlier and decided to ask Engineer what he thought about it. 

“I imagine he saw how well you were gettin’ along with Medic an’ decided to ask you.”

Heavy started chopping a little more aggressively. Why in the world was everyone so interested in his friendship with Medic? What was so different about his pairing with the doctor in comparison to Engineer and Pyro, or Soldier and Demo? None of it made sense to him and it only contributed to his increasing frustration.

“Why do you all care? это не имеет никакого смысла…”

“Well… it’s just interestin’ seein’ you two get along so well. It feels like Medic would rather turn us all into pincushions than talk to us, but with you he’s like a whole other person. You tend to notice that sorta thing.”

Did they? Honestly, it didn’t seem like something they’d need to concern themselves with. Heavy merely huffed at Engineer and finished up the vegetables he was chopping. He wasn’t going to continue this conversation.

– Day 5 - Monday –

Heavy hummed lightly to himself as he looked through some of his things. He was reorganizing his travel bag, since he and the team would be heading back to home base tomorrow. He wanted everything all neat and tidy before he left. While he sorted the books he brought, he noticed one at the bottom of the small pile that he didn’t remember bringing.

Heavy picked up the mysterious book. It was small, and bound in black leather. It seemed to have a mixture of German and English writing on the inside of it. He couldn’t read German very well, but English was something he was more familiar with. He flipped open the first page to the introduction and was greeted with the words:

Das größte Geschenk des Lebens ist Freundschaft, und ich habe es erhalten.
The greatest gift of life is friendship, and I have received it.

The feeling of those words hit him like a truck. He read it over a few times so they’d stick in his mind.

“... the greatest gift…” He whispered.

Heavy could not understand why that one sentence affected him the way it did. 

Or how his mind immediately jumped to his current closest friend. But he could practically feel his heart ache, as if he’d been smothering the feeling of loneliness he’d been feeling up to this point. Heavy wouldn’t dare admit it aloud, but he missed Medic a lot more than he realized.

He wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with the feeling. He felt it when he left his home and family for America and the months that followed after his departure. He felt it now, in all its debilitating might.

He set the book off to the side, not even bothering to continue reading it and continued with his packing, doing his best to shake the odd feelings off. He wouldn’t let this bother him. 

Heavy spent the rest of the day doing whatever he could to keep himself occupied. He helped Soldier restock, assisted Engineer in carrying some heavy equipment over to the transport truck, along with a few other simple chores. The others took notice of his eagerness to help and didn’t ask too many questions about it except for Sniper, who decided to ask about Heavy's strange behavior.

Heavy was loading in a few more supply boxes into the truck when Sniper approached him.

“G’day mate. You doin’ alright?”

Heavy set the box he was holding down with a grunt. Wiping the sweat from his forehead with his hand, he replied, “Yes. I am fine. Don’t know why you all keep asking.”

“Well… everyone has their questions. An’ when one of us is havin’ a hard time, we all feel it.”

“Hm.” Those words were familiar. Did Engineer put Sniper up to this?

“But I think I know what th’ problem is. Yer homesick.”

Heavy frowned at Sniper. He wasn’t really in the mood to talk about his personal life with him.

“I won’t probe you ‘bout it. But I know how ya feel. I can see it in yer eyes. I miss my folks all the time. It’s hard to admit, but it’s okay to miss yer family an’ yer home.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

Sniper merely shrugged, “Felt like ya needed some reassurance.”

“Did Engineer tell you to say these things?”

“Ah… well, y’know. Maybe. But that’s besides th’ point anyways.”

Heavy gave him an odd look. His teammates sure were being friendly this week. It didn’t bother him, but it was still strange talking to them like this. 

“Well, I gotta get goin’. Still need to pack up my stuff. But if ya ever need someone to talk to ‘bout this sorta thing, I wouldn’t mind listenin’.”

“That is… very nice of you. I will consider offer.” Heavy replied.

And with that, Sniper took his leave. Heavy was a little impressed that Engineer had managed to convince this otherwise reclusive man to talk to him. Who knows, maybe he was behind all the other interactions he’d had with his teammates that week. Engineer was a smart man with a big heart, so who knew what he was capable of? Or what he knew?

– Day 6 - Tuesday – 

The ride back to the main base felt like the longest trip Heavy had ever taken. He couldn’t bring himself to take a nap at first, despite how tired he was. He had trouble sleeping the other night and was struggling to sleep now as well. While the rest of his teammates snoozed, he gazed out the window and read in an attempt to pass the time. Gradually, Heavy managed to slip into a short uneasy nap, lulled to sleep by the hum of the truck and the warm sun shining at him through the windows. 

He finally awoke when he felt hands on his shoulders shaking him awake. 

“Time to get up, partner. We’re back at base.”

Blinking slowly, Heavy yawned and stretched. Engineer, who was standing over him, had a few bags in one hand. Seeing that he was now fully awake, the Texan handed him some of the bags to carry. The two of them exited the bus, their fellow teammates walking up ahead with their own bags and boxes. Miss Pauling was near another truck with a few men who seemed to be dropping supplies off. She left the outlook base at Landfall a day before Heavy and the others so she could make sure the weekly supplies got dropped off to the main base in time, always a few steps ahead.

Heavy decided  to help her and the transport men out. He didn’t have a great deal of things in his hands, so he may as well help out a little more.

Miss Pauling glanced up from the clipboard she was holding to greet Heavy with a short wave, “Oh, welcome back Heavy!”

“Privet Miss Pauling. Need help moving boxes?”

“That would be great. Some of these need to be taken to the infirmary, so if you want you can take those.” She pointed at several large and oddly lumpy packages.

To the infirmary… he wondered if Medic would be there right now. He sincerely hoped so. He honestly couldn’t wait to catch up with the doctor after a week away. Eagerly, he stooped down to collect as many packages and supplies to go with the bags he was already holding. Carrying as much as he could hold in both hands he made his way inside the base, where he was greeted by an enthusiastic Pyro in the common area who was very pleased at having the rest of the team back. Demo and Scout were also hanging around, doing their best to play a game of checkers. They gave Heavy a cheerful wave as he passed by.

As he walked the familiar route to the infirmary, he could feel the anticipation building up. Would Medic be happy to see him? Or would he be indifferent? The latter seemed more likely, but it wouldn’t stop Heavy from giving the doctor a big hug anyway. Taking a deep breath, Heavy pushed open the doors to the infirmary, seeing Medic in deep concentration as he worked on something at a nearby counter. He was hunched over it, quietly screwing a bolt into what must have been one of his strange ÜberCharge machines.

Heavy quietly set what he was carrying down and cleared his throat to announce himself. Medic turned around so fast he nearly fell out of his chair.

“Doktor. I bring you supplies-”

His sentence was cut off as Medic nearly ran over to him and proceeded to give him such a massive hug that it practically knocked the wind out of him. Heavy hugged him back tightly in happiness, the two men laughing giddily as they embraced. Medic said something indiscernible in German, but judging by the tone it must’ve been something good, “Oh wie habe ich dich vermisst mein Freund!”

“Hah! Did you miss me doktor?”

“I do not know vhere you got zhat idea from! Hahaha!”

They broke out into more laughter. Heavy was taken aback by Medic’s sudden rush of affection. As they broke apart from the embrace, he beamed at the doctor who returned an equally happy grin.

“Now. Vhould you like to tell me vhat you hafe been up to zhis week mein freund?” Medic said.

“Only if you do same!”

“Zhen it’s a deal.”

Translations:

Russian:

Privet - Hello

German:

Oh wie habe ich dich vermisst mein Freund! - Oh how I missed you my friend!

French:
Encore ceci - This again

Chapter Text

– A few days prior - Friday –

Medic was pacing back and forth in the infirmary, the BLU Spy watching him with boredom. The doctor had done everything in his power to try and wrench out what the BLU team was planning… but all he got was nothing. The Spy was doing his best to not utter a word about it. Medic had tried almost everything he could think of, all of the worst methods of torture he could’ve possibly conceived; but it was clear that this particular man would be tough to break. Now, Medic was planning on doing something a little more experimental.

He made his way over to a drawer filled with a few of his notes. He kept a small journal of future ideas in it and would periodically jot down whatever he could think of. Flipping through the pages, he stopped on one experiment in particular that would definitely convince the BLU Spy to spill some secrets.

“Hehehe…”

The Spy, who was strapped down to the operating table, craned his neck to look at Medic suspiciously.

“What are you doing?”

“Somezhing you vill not like!” Medic said gleefully, holding up and waving around a bonesaw as an indicator of what he was about to do.

“What? Are you going to saw my limbs off next? Répugnant…”

“Oh no , zhat is so tame . Don’t take me for someone so predictable.”

Medic set up his Medigun and aimed it over the Spy’s body. Once he was basked in the ghostly red glow, the doctor began preparing himself for the procedure, snapping on his characteristic rubber gloves. He needed to keep the Spy alive, but who’s to say he couldn’t have some fun?

As he aimed his bonesaw directly across the BLU Spy’s neck, he peered down at the masked man.

“Vill you talk? Or vill I need to cut ze answers out of you?”

“Go to hell.” 

Medic cast an evil smile down at him, taking the insult as a go ahead. He eagerly raised his bonesaw and swung it with one swift motion, plunging it into flesh.

– Present day - Tuesday –

“Miss Pauling.”

“Medic.”

“I have somezhing to report.”

“I heard.”

Miss Pauling had been notified of the BLU Spy’s infiltration, which was partly the reason why she left Landfall earlier than she needed to. Medic made sure to let her and the Administrator know and now the younger woman had arrived in the infirmary to speak with Medic face to face about the issue. 

Whatever the BLU team was planning, it was clear it was something they had never done before. They had already taken a big risk sending one of their own to the RED base to steal something outside of match time, where respawn wasn’t something they could fall back on. Miss Pauling seemed pretty visibly concerned herself. 

“So… where is the BLU Spy now? What did you guys do with him?” 

Medic smiled menacingly at her and strode over to the large fridge he had in the infirmary. He pulled it open ceremoniously as if to show her something grand. She walked over hesitantly, looked inside, and recoiled at the sight of the BLU Spy’s head sitting within, who was looking rather exhausted. He raised an eyebrow at her, daring her to ask him about his lack of a body. 

“Medic… did you- what in the world…” Miss Pauling gasped.

“I removed his head from his body! One of mein most successful experiments!”

“Well, I got that, but- how is he alive?!”

“Vell it vas very simple. By keeping him under zhe Medigun’s healing aura I vas able to keep him alive long enough to sever his head from his-”

The BLU Spy interrupted the both of them, “Would you mind closing the fridge? I was trying to sleep, and you two are keeping me awake.” 

Medic proceeded to slam the fridge door which caused the Spy’s head to start throwing muffled swears at him from inside.

“Now vhere vas I? Oh ja! So anyvays, once I vas done wiz ze beheading, I attached ze head to a device at ze base of his neck. Zhat is vhat keeps him from dying. I could go into ze specifics…?”

Miss Pauling, utterly bewildered, held up a hand to stop him from continuing, “Uh. No thank you Medic. I think I got the idea.”

“Are you sure? It vould be no problem-”

“Yes, I think I’m good. Now um. Were you able to get any information out of him?”

Medi sighed in a rejected sort of way and shook his head, “Nein. Unfortunately nozhing vorked. Not even making him into a head vorked. But at least now he cannot escape!”

She seemed just as disappointed as Medic for not being able to get any intel on what BLU might’ve been planning. The only way for the RED team to figure it out would be for them to try and secure some new BLU intelligence and see if maybe, just maybe, there was something within the enemy team’s own files.

Medic, however, now had more pressing matters at hand. He needed to get the first ÜberCharge surgery (not counting his own self-surgery of course) underway. He and Heavy had managed to catch up a few hours ago, but amidst all the excitement of his return he’d forgotten to ask him if he was ready to do the procedure…

The Übermaker did seem to work at the very least. He’d survived well past the 24 hour interval after his surgery, and once he’d realized that the BLU Spy was a lost cause and was clearly not intent on coughing up any answers Medic went straight back to his ÜberCharge experimentation. Step 1 was complete. Now, he needed to test whether or not he was truly invulnerable, something he was unable to do amidst all the trouble the Spy had caused.

As Medic trudged outside, his Medigun under one arm and a fistful of notes in the other, he made a beeline for the firing range located at the northern end of the RED base. 

He could probably do all of this himself. It couldn’t be that hard to blow himself up for this experiment, could it? He saw Soldier and Demo do it all the time, and they did it by accident more often than not. 

Well… maybe it wouldn’t hurt to ask a teammate if they’d be willing to fire some rockets or bullets at him. It was for science after all, and he knew none of them would ever turn down the opportunity of pumping someone full of lead. Changing course, he decided to ask the first and most reliable person that came to mind; Heavy. 

Once he’d made it to Heavy’s room, he knocked three times on his door, something Heavy often did himself. Medic really hoped that his friend would be there. He wasn’t keen on going to any of the others for this particular experiment.

Sure enough, he was quickly greeted by Heavy’s familiar, kindly face.

“Doktor! Have you come to talk more?”

Medic, who was doing his best to hold the Medigun under one arm and his massive clump of papers in the other hand, said, “In a vay. I mostly just need your help wiz somezhing!” The doctor held up the things he was holding and smiled enthusiastically at Heavy.

“I would be happy to help doktor. What do you-”

“No time to waste mein freund! Follow me und I vill show you!”

Heavy cast a puzzled look at him as Medic practically dragged him outside. The sun was starting to fall behind the mountains, bathing everything in a warm orange light. It was still scorching, but small cool breezes were drifting through which helped make the heat tolerable.

As they arrived at the firing range, Heavy tried to ask the question one more time, “What do you need me for?”

Medic pointed at an old battered table where a pile of weapons were placed. The firing range always had a few guns and rocket launchers laying about. 

“You want to practice defense more мой друг?

“Nein. Vell, actually… I suppose zhis vould be good practice for you .”

“What do you mean?”

Medic smiled again, more mischievously this time. It was hilarious teasing Heavy this way, remaining aloof and confusing at all times to make him even more puzzled. Secretly, he just enjoyed seeing Heavy’s baffled expression and how he’d frown slightly, his brow creased and eyes searching for some kind of reasonable explanation. Medic was utterly fond of it. Which he’d never admit out loud, of course.

Heavy crossed his arms and awaited Medic’s answer to his question. The doctor was too busy getting his Medigun propped up on a rusty chair he found, aiming it at himself as he stood on a drawn X in the sandy ground. He had a little button in his hand, which he would be using to activate the Medigun’s ÜberCharge remotely. The papers and notes he’d brought with him were stuffed into his pocket ( he had only just then remembered he had with which he could put them into).

“Alright Heavy, if you vould be so kind as to pick up one of ze weapons on ze table, ve can get started!” Medic called out.

Heavy was still standing a couple feet from him on the other side of the fence lining the shooting range. Still confused, he chose a shotgun from the line-up that had a decent range to it. 

“Vhen I tell you to, you vill open fire on me!”

“Doktor, what-”

“On ze count of three.”

“Doktor! What do you mean?”

“One.”

“Are you going to explain?”

“Two.”

“Пожалуйста, I don’t-”

“Three! Now Heavy!”

As he pressed down on the button in his clenched fist, the Medigun hummed with power. The healing beam surrounded Medic, stronger than it had ever been. He felt strength and vigor run through his body as his heart pumped the healing factor at incredible speeds, and as he looked down at his arms and hands he noticed something truly bizarre; every inch of him was covered in some sort of bright red luminescence. What an intriguing development! 

Heavy hadn’t even fired a single bullet, too mystified and amazed at what he was seeing. Medic must have looked very strange indeed. 

“Heavy! I need you to shoot at me!” Medic called out again.

“But- what if I hurt you?!”

“I am impenetrable! It vill not harm me!”

The bigger man, still full of worry, aimed the shotgun hesitantly. 

“You can trust me, Heavy!”

Heavy nodded solemnly.

He started to fire rounds at Medic, who had braced for impact. He felt nothing. Not a single bullet had hurt him, not even a scratch or graze. He took several deadly rounds to the face and chest, and it had no effect.

“It vorked Heavy! It vorked! Hahaha!” Medic said ecstatically, fighting the urge to run and jump around in excitement.

After a few extra seconds, the Medigun and the effects of the ÜberCharge fizzled out. Medic felt a tad bit exhausted, but it wasn’t anything too concerning. 

“Doktor… ” Heavy was at a loss for words.

Medic practically skipped over to him. His greatest creation had succeeded and gone beyond his initial expectations. He felt untouchable, the triumph of his victory filling him with pride.

And yet, the feeling of success was nothing compared to the look of admiration that Heavy was giving him.

“Hah! You should see ze look on your face!”

“This is wonderful, doktor. You are smartest man I have ever met! We should celebrate!” Heavy declared, scooping Medic up into one of his signature spine-cracking hugs. Medic would always do his best to hug back, but all he could really do was laugh into the other man’s chest as he struggled to breathe. 

“Ack- Heavy-  I zhink you hafe hugged me enough!” He wheezed.

“Sorry, doktor.” Heavy set him down gently.

“It is quite alright mein freund. But I zhink if you hug me like zhat everytime I accomplish somezhing, mein lungs vill explode!”

“Then make better lungs. You are Medic, are you not?”

Medic snickered, “Hehe, zhat is true. But ze celebrating must vait. Bullets are just ze first test. Gazher all of ze explosives zhat you can find, und ve vill see how great mein success really is!”


– Later that night –

Everything went better than expected. Medic could not believe his luck. Well, it’s not like he really needed any. He knew he’d succeed one way or another, and it was all because of the hard work and sleepless nights he’d poured into the invention. No longer did he have to worry about the limitations of his past; now, he had all the funding and time he could have to complete his work. Now, he was finally seeing it become reality.

Step 2 had been completed once he’d determined that he was impenetrable to pretty much everything he and Heavy could think of to throw at him; bullets, hand grenades, shrapnel from said hand grenades, explosions from oil drums, flamethrowers, bats, road spikes, you name it. 

Medic had also figured out the exact duration of time the charge lasted for, which was a measly 8 seconds. He felt pretty disappointed by how short it was, but hey, it was still something. Those 8 seconds would no doubt prove to be essential once he and Heavy drew up some strategies for the ÜberCharge and how to best utilize it during battle. He even decided to test one of his newer Medigun prototypes, which he had dubbed the Quick-Fix.

Once that was all done and over with, Medic went straight to the old busted telephone he had in the infirmary to ring up the Administrator and tell her of his triumph. From what he could tell from her rather cold, monotone voice, she was quite impressed. 

“Well Medic, I’ll have to call Saxton to confirm your success. We’ll see if your new ‘ÜberCharge’ is something we can work into missions. In the meantime, I recommend you get started on giving this new ability of yours to your teammates.”

“Of course Administrator.”

She hung up, and once Medic had set the telephone back down he began rummaging through a few diagrams and layouts he had created for the next set of surgeries. Heavy was reading nearby, having borrowed one of Medic’s books to pass the time as he worked. He’d even brought his minigun from outside and put it on a stretcher, for whatever reason. Heavy perked up at seeing Medic done with the call. 

“What did she say?”

“She vants me to get to vork on giving ze ÜberCharge to ze ozhers und starting ze surgeries. But I vanted to do yours first!”

Heavy put a hand over his heart, as if to show how touched he was, “Oh doktor, you are too kind.” He said with a slightly sarcastic tone.

Medic rolled his eyes at him, a playful smirk on his face, and continued his rummaging.

Dropping the banter, Heavy then asked, “When will you do surgery on me?”

“Vell, I am all prepared. So… vhenever you are ready.”

“Let us begin, then.”


— 

The surgery took much longer than expected.

There were a few minor hiccups. A few broken ribs, maybe an exploded heart or two. Archimedes decided to nest in Heavy’s insides for a bit, which was rather filthy. So, all things considered, Medic thought it was all going rather well. 

That was, until the BLU team decided to attack the base just then. 

He wasn’t too concerned. Medic was going to complete the surgery one way or another. Nothing could stop him from completing his goal. Not even a surprise ambush.

“What happens now, doktor?” 

“Now… we go practice medicine.”

As soon as the procedure was finally complete, Medic snatched the closest and freely-useable Quick-Fix from the counter, seeing as the Medigun was still attached to the operating table. Adorning his signature white coat, he and Heavy burst through the infirmary doors, guns blazing.

Demo and Scout were calling for help, running amidst the rubble and explosions cascading around them. Medic turned his Quick-Fix on them and healed them instantly with a triumphant grin on his face before turning his attention back to Heavy. The two previously injured mercs ran back into battle, reinvigorated and ready to bring hell.

The BLU team had stormed their home base, and they were going to pay dearly for it.

Medic activated the ÜberCharge, the now familiar power coursing through the both of them. The feeling of both of them being charged at once was a surreal feeling, with both their hearts beating in perfect unison. The combined energy made Medic feel more powerful than he’d ever felt as he stood behind Heavy, who had let loose a torrent of bullets at the enemy. The BLU team panicked and fled at the sight of them, doing whatever they could to run once they realized their bullets did nothing. 

Medic had promised to make them all into gods. He knew he had succeeded, as he watched his friend laugh mockingly at the pathetic weaklings he mowed down with his impressive minigun, declaring his invincibility and strength to all who opposed him. Enveloped in a scarlet aura of strength and eyes glowing a pure molten-gold, he certainly looked like a god. It was a sight to behold, and one that nearly took Medic’s breath away. What a feat he had accomplished. 

“I think… that is last of them, doktor.” Heavy had bent down on one knee and clutched his side, wheezing. The ÜberCharge had finally run out, and it left them both utterly exhausted.

“Ah. I zhink you are right.” Medic replied, gazing at the carnage they’d created. Bodies, limbs, and guts were strewn all over the place. The both of them were drenched in blood and dirt. The ÜberCharge didn’t protect their clothes from things like that, it seemed.

Some of the other mercs who’d taken cover behind rocks and debris during the battle had peeked out to watch the two fight their way to victory, in complete shock and awe at what they’d witnessed. Engineer was the first to speak up about it.

“What in tarnation was that doc?”

Medic turned and walked over to him to assess him. Once he’d been sufficiently healed by the Quick-Fix, he answered, “My latest creation. I call it ze ÜberCharge. It grants immunity from zhings like bullets und explosions, to put it simply.”

Engineer let out a low whistle, “Well shoot doc, I didn’t think it was gonna work. Color me impressed.”

Scout, who had hidden in a crevice near a rocky wall but didn’t seem any worse for wear also piped up, “That was freakin’ awesome! You guys just absolutely destroyed those guys like it was nothin’ ! Like, you guys should be totally dead right now! How do we get to do stuff like that?”

“It is a simple procedure zhat I vould be happy to explain to all of you. But eh… maybe after. I zhink ze rest of you need healing first.” He’d just spotted Sniper and Spy emerging from a now destroyed building down the hill. They both looked awful, clothes torn and riddled with bullet holes. An easy fix. 

It didn’t take long for Medic to heal everyone, noting how much faster the prototype Quick-Fix was at healing than the regular Medigun. He would need to take some notes on it later. 

While everyone was groaning about having to get rid of all the bodies and assorted gore bits laying around, Medic was doing his best to inconspicuously pick through the wreckage for any organs that seemed intact enough to use, stuffing them into his deep lab coat pockets. Everyone knew what he was doing. He was very bad at hiding it. 

However the cleaning would be stopped short by the sound of rolling thunder. The sun, which had been rising slowly into the sky, was being overtaken by looming storm clouds. Everyone made their way inside the base, proceeding to make their way to the battle room for a debrief. Despite their massive success thanks to the ÜberCharge, nobody was in the mood to celebrate.

The battle room was where the team went to strategize. It was a large concrete basement with servers and other tech lining the walls. Stolen intel was scattered about on the large, round wooden table in the center, along with several huge battle schematics and maps of all the different bases in Teufort. A single ceiling light lit up the whole table and everything occupying it. There was also a rather old worn-out projector in a nearby corner, but it wasn’t in use.

On the wall facing the entrance was a huge cork board which had little notes, plans, and ideas for new strategies all over it. The mercs took to their regular seats around the table as Miss Pauling, carrying her clipboard entered the room and grabbed one of the newer notes off the board to look at before she returned her attention to the team.

“So, Miss Pauling, I’m guessin’ you don’t know any more than we do about this whole attack the BLU team decided to pull on us?” Engineer asked, relaxing into his chair. 

Miss Pauling, who was standing near the board on the wall, was shaking her head.

“No idea Engie.”

Demo spoke up in anger, still covered in dirt and gunpowder, “We shoulda’ bloody known somethin’ was gonna happen when tha’ BLU Spy was creepin’ around here a week ago!”

“I heard about that. Did he ever say anythin’? Where ya able to get any info outta him about this?” Sniper asked curiously, looking over at Demo and Medic.

“Nein.” Medic replied, “He said nozhing. I pulled every torture method I could zhink of on him. He vould not budge.”

Scout, who was sitting next to Spy, started to eye the masked man suspiciously, “Hey, wait a minute. Ain’t our own Spy supposed to be findin’ these sorta things out? Ain’t that your whole job? I mean, you always brag about how much you know stuff, so why didn’t you know about this, huh?”

Spy glared at him in retaliation, “Because I am not an idiot, unlike my BLU counterpart. I would not storm the home base of the enemy team like a fool, because I would much rather keep my head, thank you.”

“This isn’t getting us anywhere guys. The most I and the Administrator can do for you all is set up a few more missions next week at Snakewater. Whatever information you guys find there is yours for the taking.” Miss Pauling said. Everyone collectively nodded in agreement. 

“Before ve do zhat Miss Pauling, I vould recommend you let me complete ze rest of ze ÜberCharge surgeries. Only if ze rest of you vant a taste of ze power you saw today, of course.” 

There was an air of excitement in the room now. Scout leaned forward in his chair, clearly enthusiastic about the idea of being completely immune. Soldier and Demo both showed off toothy grins to show their eagerness. The rest of the mercs all seemed equally interested in the idea. Any sort of tiredness or exhaustion from the ambush had evaporated. 

“Good idea Medic. We’re going to need that extra edge for these upcoming battles. I’ll leave you all to it, and I’ll send out an announcement regarding your next few missions. Dismissed!” Miss Pauling said, flipping through the papers on her clipboard as she walked out of the room.

As everyone stood up to speak to Medic about what they were to expect with the surgeries, he couldn’t help feel elated. Now he could finally fulfill his promise.

– 3 days later - Friday –

Each of the procedures happened in quick succession. Medic knew exactly what to do without any prior planning, now that he’d successfully completed two ÜberCharge surgeries.

Scout went first, pretty eager at the idea of becoming impenetrable. Once Medic had begun the surgery, though, all things went downhill from there. 

Scout mostly panicked at seeing the doctor poke around in his insides while he was awake, something he wasn’t as accustomed to as Heavy was (which made Medic desperately wish he was doing this surgery on him instead). It didn’t help that once the surgery was complete, Medic realized that he’d accidentally sealed Archimedes inside of the younger man’s chest, causing even more panic. It took him a solid hour to calm Scout down enough to where he could get the little dove out, who was looking rather pleased with himself.

The other procedures went along much smoother to Medic’s relief. They were a little hesitant after seeing Scout burst from the infirmary in a frenzy due to the whole ‘bird in his chest cavity’ thing, but after a little more convincing Medic was able to get everyone’s procedures done and over with over the course of 3 days. 

It didn’t take long for the team to prepare for the next set of missions, gathering all the equipment they needed, and piling onto their transport bus to head to their first destination; an area of eastern Teufort known as Snakewater. It was a control point location, from what Medic had been told, and it also included various other locations within the area.

The ride was long, but the team always knew how to keep themselves occupied. Demo brought out his pack of playing cards, as he usually did, and Medic braced himself for what seemed to be yet another argument between him, Pyro and Scout on what to play. Soldier declared that they play a card game called ‘Spite and Malice’, which to everyone’s surprise was an actual game that could be played. Safe to say, it was an incredibly sweat-inducing game for everybody.

Once the game was done, though, Pyro decided to break out a bunch of paper and pencils for people to draw on. Everyone scoffed at the idea, but there wasn’t much else to do, so gradually most of the mercs took to drawing without much complaint. Scout kept drawing scantily-clad women poorly, Sniper took to drawing wildlife with surprising artistic ability, and Demo and Soldier decided to hold a tic-tac-toe competition. 

Heavy and Medic took to themselves the whole ride, playing several games of chess with a set Heavy had. It was built for travel, which made Medic very happy. He’d shown Medic the chess set a day before, asking if he knew how to play when the doctor decided to visit him in his room as part of his dove-enforced break time. They proceeded to play for hours before Medic remembered he had surgeries to do and had to leave, but it was worth it.

A few hours in, they’d reached a tie. It was starting to get heated between the two, as Medic started getting a bit too cocky with his moves and was finding himself cornered by Heavy’s pieces. 

“No… but if I move- nein… Heavy, you are making zhis difficult!”

“That is plan.”

Medic then saw an opening. Moving what he believed to be the winning piece into position, he sat back with a wide satisfied smile on his face.

“Zhat, I believe, makes me ze winner!”

Heavy gazed at the board, then slowly looked up to give Medic a smirk of his own.

“Do not be so hasty.”


In quick succession, Heavy moved another piece, directly in line of Medic's king. Just like that, the game was over.

“NO! How in ze vorld did you do zhat? Wie demütigend…” 

“Haha! Maybe I teach you strategy sometime?”

“Ugh, fine, I vill consider it. But next time I vill get you, I swear it!”

Heavy chuckled, “If you say so, doktor. I look forward to rematch.”

Night had fallen, the ride finally ending once the moon had risen a high into the sky. Stars twinkled overhead, cool breezes whipping dust up into the air in the distance. The team stepped out of the bus into the dark Snakewater base, stretching aching backs from the long ride as they gathered their bags and equipment. Medic went instantly to the huge traveling bird cage he’d brought with him, not willing to part with his precious doves for even a week. He had no idea if anyone would’ve even taken care of them while he was gone, so he didn’t hesitate to bring them with him.

Everyone went straight to their own rooms to rest for the match tomorrow, carrying their own personal items and equipment with them. They were certainly going to need it. The BLU team were no doubt vowing to get their revenge, and would make the next few missions unbearable.

Translations:

Russian:
мой друг (moy drug) - My friend
Пожалуйста (pozhaluysta) - Please

German:

Nein - No
Mein freund - My friend
Wie demütigend - How humiliating

French:
Répugnant - Disgusting

Chapter Text

– Friday –

Привет еще раз мой сын. Я надеюсь, что все хорошо на вашей работе! Мы очень скучаем по вам и надеемся, что вы скоро сможете посетить нас. Я знаю, что вам нелегко это сделать, но мы по-прежнему надеемся.

Ваши сестры и я благодарны за деньги, которые вы нам прислали, но мы обеспокоены тем, что вы не оставляете достаточно для себя. Это и твои деньги тоже, сын мой. Ваши сестры по-прежнему очень интересуются вашими коллегами. Возможно, вы сможете пригласить их в свой следующий визит. Яна, кажется, особенно заинтересована в докторе, о котором ты нам постоянно рассказываешь!

Мне особенно приятно слышать, что этот ваш врач так заботится о вас. Кажется, он хороший человек. Не забудьте пригласить и его, чтобы мы могли приготовить ему вкусную еду в качестве благодарности.

Мы все с нетерпением ждем возможности услышать от вас снова, надеюсь, на этот раз раньше. Не забывайте хорошо питаться и заботиться о себе. Мы любим тебя.

(Translation: Hello again my son. I hope all is well at your work! We miss you very much and hope you can visit us soon. I know it's not easy for you to do this, but we remain hopeful. 

Your sisters and I are grateful for the money you sent us, but we are concerned that you are not keeping enough for yourself. It's your money too, son. Your sisters will ask more questions about your colleagues. Perhaps you can invite them on your next visit. Yana seems to be especially interested in the doctor you keep telling us about!

I am especially pleased to hear that this doctor of yours cares so much about you. He seems to be a good man. Don't forget to invite him too, so we can cook him a delicious meal as a thank you.

We all look forward to hearing from you again, hopefully sooner this time. Remember to eat well and take care of yourself. We love you.)

Heavy read the letter he’d received a few times over, just so he could soak in the words written on the page. As he sat on the old bed in his designated Snakewater base room, he smiled quietly to himself. His heart always ached when he received these letters from his mother and sisters, knowing how far away they were and how hard it would be to visit them… but being able to hear what they were up to helped the pain.

Bringing out his own piece of paper, he started to write in response to the letter. Even if it took weeks for his words to reach them, it was still worth it. 

Once he’d decided he was satisfied with what he wrote, he sealed his letter in an envelope he’d managed to get from Miss Pauling and got up from his bed to send it off. Hopefully, the transport truck that had brought the mail would still be around. As he walked through the various rooms of the concrete and wooden base, he saw several of his teammates also enjoying the various things they had received in the mail. It wasn’t unusual to see the others lounge around with their new purchases.

Scout and Sniper sat at a small round table near a resupply room. Scout was showing off some new baseball cards he’d obtained to him, with Sniper half listening and half reading some of his own letters that he’d received from his parents. Heavy nodded to the both of them as he passed by.

Demo and Soldier were doing something much more drastic. They had managed to buy huge fireworks and firecrackers and were thinking of all the things they could do with them, scribbling dangerous ideas onto a shared piece of paper. Pyro was standing next to the two and giving them their own thoughts, holding a newly unpackaged ceramic unicorn in one hand as they did. Spy was leaning against a wall nearby, watching the whole scene unfold with worry. Heavy merely waved at the group as he continued on his path. He’d probably have to deal with that later if Spy wasn’t able to put a stop to it.

However, something made him stop in his tracks. He heard a faint sound. A melodic, sad sound.


Someone was playing the violin somewhere. 

“ Красивый… ” He whispered to himself.

Heavy mindlessly followed the source of the music. It was coming from another part of the building, deeper in. The closer he got, the sadder it sounded. It was beautiful in a melancholy sort of way. He entered the medical bay, where the tune was emanating from, and was surprised by what he saw.

Medic was standing in the middle of the large medbay room, which was semi-filled by medical equipment and other supplies. His doves were sitting on different perches, watching their owner play on the old violin he was holding against his shoulder. The doctor had his eyes closed as he played, his face full of concentration with a small twinge of sadness lining his features.

Medic stopped playing suddenly, opened his eyes, and saw Heavy standing in the doorway. 

“Ah. Heavy. I vas just-”

“No, it is okay doktor. Was going to drop mail off but then I heard you. Wanted to hear more.”

“You… vish to hear me play?” Medic asked with an air of hopefulness.

“Da. You play wonderfully.”

He cast a large warm smile at Heavy, who then pulled up a nearby chair and sat patiently, waiting for him to continue. Medic closed his eyes and resumed his song.

Heavy closed his eyes as well, letting the music whisk him away. It was so peaceful and tranquil, but the underlying sorrow in its tone was unmistakable. 

However, he did hear something different this time, as if Medic was playing a little happier now that Heavy was there with him. It was hard to tell if that were true, but it made his heart ache at the thought. 

Before long, the song ended. Heavy couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed at how quickly it was over. Medic watched him expectantly, waiting to see what his reaction would be.

“Doktor, you truly are man of many talents!”

Medic gave him a bashful wave, “Ach, it is nozhing, really. Vas just an old hobby of mine vhen I vas younger. Decided to use some of ze money I hafe earned to buy myself a violin und see if I could still play. Ze violin is slightly used, und nozhing like mein old one, but it vorks all ze same.”

“Well, you are wonderful. You always manage to impress me, мой друг.”

"Haha, you are too kind mein freund.” Medic replied, face flush with pride.

“I am only honest! But, I am curious.”

“About?”

“That song. I have not heard one like it.”

“Ah. It is a personal piece zhat I wrote for myself.”

“I see. Then what is song about?”

Medic smiled, but it was one that didn’t reach his eyes, “Not every song has to hafe a meaning.”

“Is true. But most songs do.” 

The doctor paused for a moment, thinking, trying to weigh his options with what he wanted to respond with. Or, what he would be comfortable to divulge.

“Fine, fine. Ze song does have a meaning. It is about mein family.”

Heavy felt a pang in his chest. He hadn’t considered the fact that his friend might have suffered from homesickness like he had, but then again, he remembered that Medic had struggled with a nightmare about them a week or so ago. 

“Do you miss them?”

Medic gave him a disgusted look. Guess that was a no.

“Absolutely not. Mein life's better wizout zhem in it.”

“Ah. I see. I am sorry, doktor.”

“You have nozhing to be sorry about Heavy. I hafe cut zhem off long ago, but vhat zhey hafe done to me… vell, some zhings are hard to forgive.” 

Heavy nodded, knowing not to press any further. Whatever Medic’s family had done to him clearly took a toll; and some things were better left unsaid.

Medic had an air of not wanting to continue the conversation, his arms tightly crossed with the violin still in one hand. Switching topics after taking a look at what Heavy had in his hand, he asked, “So, to whom are you sending zhat letter to?”

“I am going to send it to family back in Russia.”

The doctor’s face went through a mixture of emotions. Mild surprise, curiosity, and maybe just a twinge of jealousy, but Heavy wagered the last one was just a trick of the light. 

“Oh. So you… hafe a wife zhen?”

Now that was unexpected. Maybe not entirely unusual for someone to ask, seeing as Heavy was an older man. To be completely honest marriage wasn’t something he had considered for most of his life. Heavy already had a family to take care of, so why spend time trying to make another? Sure, it left him lonely most nights, but he doubted anyone would want to marry him anyway. He was a mercenary, a hired killer, and he could only imagine how that would turn away potential relationships. So, with his combined disinterest and current employment, he’d locked the thought away in the recesses of his mind.

“No, doktor, I do not have a wife. Just mother and three sisters.”

The man raised his eyebrows in genuine confusion. It almost seemed like any jealousy that might have been there was gone, which was odd.

“I apologize. Shouldn’t hafe assumed. But, how does a man like you hafe no wife?”

Heavy frowned at him, a little annoyed by the question, “What? What does that mean?”

Medic became quickly flustered.

“Er- uh, I just- I mean, you are, a razher… you are an impressive specimen, und I just found it razher surprising zhat you haven't found someone to call your own.” 

Rather surprised by the fact that Medic had clearly just stumbled over his words, something he’d never really done before, Heavy replied hesitantly, “I do not understand, doktor.”

“Oh, nevermind! Let us change ze topic now, if you please!”

To save Medic from himself, Heavy proceeded to talk about his family instead, something he had been reluctant to talk about with the doctor. He wagered that it would be a good time to open up about it.

He told his friend all about his three younger sisters, Yana, Zhanna and Bronislava, and about his mother, and laughed about them and the adventures he had with his sisters when he was a younger man. He even talked a bit about his father, as hard as the topic was for him to speak about. Medic had pulled up a chair of his own, head resting in his hands as he listened intently.

Archimedes, who’d been resting on a shelf watching the two, eventually flew down to land on Heavy’s shoulder which interrupted a story he was telling.

“Hmph. I hafe half a mind to zhink zhat he vould much razher be your bird zhan mine.”

“Can he not be both?” Heavy replied, petting the bird gently on the head with his finger.

“I suppose. I do not zhink he vould mind.” Medic said with an amused smile. 

“Maybe this can be new family? If last one was not good, can always make new one, da?”

“Vhat? Me, you und ze birds? A razher peculiar family don’t you zhink?”

Heavy shrugged, “Have seen weirder families. Should see Spy and Scout.”

“I knew zhere vas somezhing going on wiz zhose two! Zhey really are related, aren’t zhey? I didn’t even need to do a DNA test to know!”

“Da. Everyone except Scout knows, even Spy. Does not want to admit it.”

“Vell, if you had a son like Scout, vould you be willing to admit it?”

“...”

Heavy then paused, remembering that he still had the letter in his hand. He looked over at Medic, “I still need to drop letter off. Would you like to go with?”

Medic gazed around the room, which was still a mess from unpacking. Glancing back at Heavy, he replied, “I vould be happy to accompany you, mein freund.”

As they walked close together, their conversation picked up again. The sun was beginning to set slowly over the horizon. It was still warm, but Snakewater didn’t get nearly as hot as the Badlands did in the afternoons. It made their stroll to the transport truck all the more pleasant. The gentle winds that came in through the forest surrounding the base were refreshing, and it made Heavy glad that they were going to have their next few missions here. 

It didn’t take long for Heavy to drop off his letter, but he stood outside for a while. Talking with Medic somehow made the most simple tasks entertaining and rather distracting. Unfortunately, their conversation would soon be interrupted by a very familiar and noisy young merc.

“I frickin’ knew you two would be together! Take that Soldier!” Scout said with a laugh as he came running up to the two older men. 

Heavy and Medic made equally annoyed faces at him. 

Demo, who was presumably following after Scout, turned the corner and spotted the three of them standing there, “Aye, guess ye were right Scout. Solly ain’t gonna be happy.”

“Vhat is ze meaning of zhis? Vhat are you dummkopf talking about?” Medic demanded.

“Soldier made a bet ‘bout you two. How yer always together, ya know? He said that if Scout could go find tha’ both of ye, ye wouldn’t be together. Made a ten buck bet on it an’ everythin’. I’m just taggin’ along, to be honest with ye.”

Medic’s face went from annoyance to frustrated anger, “Zhis is idiotic! Vhy vould you make a bet on somezhing like zhat?”

Scout put up his hands defensively, “Hey man, I only did it cause it was such an easy bet. I don’t care about any of this stuff! It’s just, y’know, you guys are always talkin’ and doin’ stuff together, so…”

“Und vhat is zhat implying?”

“I dunno man, that you guys are friends or whatever! What the hell did ya think I meant?”

Medic didn’t say anything to that, choosing to glare instead. Heavy and Demo were standing awkwardly off to the side watching the two argue. Heavy had no idea why Scout and Soldier would even make a bet on their friendship, but then again, he didn’t really understand why they did anything.

Things simmered down once dinner rolled around. Heavy took to helping Engineer prepare as he usually did, and Engineer struck up a bit of conversation with Heavy about a new shotgun he’d purchased, which the bigger man was more than happy to talk about. 

As the two made their way out of the kitchen to dish out food, Heavy saw a rather angry Soldier sunk low in his chair at the table the group was eating at, pretty unhappy about losing his ten bucks. Medic must have gotten even angrier since Heavy last saw him, because he was clenching his knife and fork like he was prepared to gut someone with them, only loosening up when Heavy arrived with food and sat down next to him to talk.

Everyone decided to head to bed early rather than stay up as they normally did, as there wasn’t much else to do that day besides prep for the match tomorrow and sleep was a lot more tempting than staying up late reorganizing weapons, cleaning guns, or holding arm-dislocating wrestling matches. 

– The day after - Sunday –

Their first match on Saturday went well. 

Nothing too horrible or intense happened, which was a nice change of pace. Control points were captured, control points were lost, but in the end Medic and Heavy had won the match with their classic winning push. The ÜberCharge certainly proved to be a huge advantage, and the BLU team could do nothing but watch helplessly as they lost their last control point. It was glorious. 

Unfortunately, the next day’s match would not nearly be so easy. 

It started off fine. Medic had come up with a few ÜberCharge strategies, choosing to go off with Scout and Pyro at the beginning instead of with Heavy as he usually did. This didn’t bother him too much, after all, he could hold his own even without the doctor by his side. 

The middle control point was an easy capture. Heavy and Demo had managed to secure it, with Soldier and Sniper going off together to try and pick off the BLU team one by one at a distance with bullets and rockets. Spy was out and about, doing his best to stay out of the line of fire and relay intel to the rest of the team. Sometimes he’d get caught by the opposing team’s Pyro or Engineer, and his line would be cut for a short period of time, but he always remained unbothered by it.

It didn’t take long for Heavy and Demo to continue the push forward. Demo decided to bring out his trusty longsword, cutting off the head of the enemy Spy (who must have gotten his body back after his run in with Medic). It was ironic to watch him lose his head a second time, and Demo laughed about it, gloating, ‘I couldn’t let the doc have all the fun!’

While the two were distracted by the Spy’s fast appearance and even faster death, the BLU Scout came out of nowhere and managed to get in a few whacks that caused Heavy to stumble and fall. Demo cried out angrily, attempting to remove yet another head, but the Scout had the advantage of surprise and managed to kill him in 3 quick shots. Heavy felt rage boil his blood. He clenched his minigun and did his best to take the Scout out in revenge, but to no avail. He was gone as quickly as he had arrived. Demo’s body disappeared in a red flash, indicating his return to respawn. If Heavy was quick enough and secured the next control point, Demo would be able to return to the battlefield through the closer respawn. But only if he was quick enough.

Making his way through the lobby of the BLU base and onto the control point, he noticed how eerily quiet it was. He was in enemy territory, yet nobody seemed to be guarding the point. Heavy then noticed a small, blue light move across his chest and up towards his head. Before he could make a move to get out of the way, he heard a shot ring out and felt blackness close in on his vision. He could see and feel nothing but a bright burst of pain piercing his skull. 

Grunting, he picked himself up off the respawn floor. He felt his head, which was now thankfully intact. The feeling of a headshot striking and imploding his skull was a very unpleasant experience, and he’d have to find a way to get his revenge on the BLU Sniper for that one. 

“Alert! Our control point is being captured.”

Growling in frustration, Heavy grabbed his minigun which had respawned with him and got up hurriedly. His team needed him out there, and he was still in respawn, wasting precious seconds being dead. There was no time to lose. 

Hearing the sounds of fighting all over the Snakewater base, he ran to help the closest teammate to him. Pyro was trying their best to get out of the enemy sentry’s line of fire and doing whatever they could to destroy it at the same time. It was placed in a location perfect for picking off anyone who was returning from spawn. Heavy let loose a torrent of bullets on it as it focused on Pyro, who also rushed in and aided in destroying it with their flamethrower. It went down quickly, and once it fell apart the BLU Engineer came in to try and place another. Pyro set him ablaze, yelling triumphant muffles as the Engineer ran off in a fiery panic. 

“Hmmph! Mpph!” Pyro ran over to Heavy and gave him a big grateful hug. They must have been struggling with that sentry for a while, judging by all the bullet holes peppering their suit.

“Good work little Pyro. Here, take sandvich.” He handed the food over, which Pyro took happily. Heavy turned away while they ate, making sure not to peek at them under the mask. They rarely ate in front of others due to privacy, and he wasn’t about to violate that. Once Pyro was finished they gave a muffled sound and thumbs up, indicating that they were all good to go.

“Now, we go kill tiny weaklings!”

Pyro nodded enthusiastically, raising their flamethrower up in anticipation for all the face-melting they were about to do.

As they made their way outside into the yard, another huge battle was taking place. Scout was facing off against his BLU counterpart, taking pot-shots at each other and swinging their bats with malice. Eventually the BLU Scout went down, causing the other to laugh proudly at his success, but not before he ended up running over a pile of BLU sticky bombs and getting blown to smithereens. 

Engineer was doing his best to set up a dispenser and sentry, but the BLU Soldier was making it his mission to destroy him before he could. Pyro instantly jumped to his rescue, leaving Heavy’s side to try airblasting the rockets away. One eventually found its target which sent the enemy Soldier tumbling backwards due to the force of the rebound blast. Engineer gave Pyro a quick thank you and a pat on the back, still hammering away at his dispenser. 

Heavy aimed his minigun and attempted to deter the enemy BLU from capturing the control point, planting himself directly on it and making sure not to stray too far from the newly built dispenser. Without Medic, the dispenser would be his only source of health. He had no idea where the doctor had gone, but he had no time to think about it or call for help. The BLU Heavy and Medic had just appeared, and were ready to bring hell.

“Heavy! Get outta the line of fire, they’re gonna make th’ push!” Engineer cried out. 

Heavy obliged and moved to hide himself next to the dispenser as Engineer continued to work feverishly on getting his sentry built. Pyro was spy-checking and anxiously peering over Heavy’s shoulder to watch everything unfold from behind the small cover they had. 

The three then saw their Spy, who was disguised, creeping up behind the BLU Medic. They watched him slowly raise his knife, poised to strike, but he was too little too late; the enemy Pyro came in from behind with their flamethrower at the ready. They watched as their friend melted into goo, unable to do anything to help him.

“Alert! The control point is being captured!”

Heavy was going his best to try and take out the two, but with the BLU Medic there and hiding rather well from enemy fire behind Heavy’s counterpart, there wasn’t much he could do. Pyro had left to try and find a way to flank them, and thankfully back-up wasn’t too far away.

“Let’s get em!”

“Go go go!”

Demo, Soldier and Sniper had finally made their way to the battlefield, with Sniper appearing on one of the higher platforms with his rifle in one hand and his trusty kukri in the other. He’d already secured a hand-to-hand kill as shown by the blood splattered across his front and gore dripping from his weapon. He’d begun firing at the enemy Heavy and Medic pair, who noticed Sniper and were backing up quickly to avoid getting their brains turned to mush. 

Demo and Soldier took advantage of this, firing off rockets at the two. The BLU team’s push was halted for now. 

“Alert! Our control point is being contested!”

Or, so they thought.

The BLU Spy had materialized, his cloak disappearing and smoke rolling off of him. He had disguised himself as Demo and was doing his absolute best to stick a rather sharp switchblade into Soldier’s exposed back.

“Arghh! We have a spy! NOOO!” Soldier screamed, falling face first into the dirt. The force of the backstab sent him keeling over, dead before he even hit the ground. Sniper shot a few times at the BLU Spy, eventually nicking him in the arm and causing him to bolt from the control point. Heavy, Engineer and Pyro watched the scene in horror.

“That’s what ya get ya bloody wanker!” Sniper yelled out angrily, reloading his weapon before firing a few more rounds at the BLU Pyro that had made the unfortunate decision of poking their head out from one of the buildings. 

“Engineer, we must make push forward.” Heavy said with a bit of desperation in his voice. They needed to move, and quickly, before any more of them were lost. They couldn’t afford to suffer a team wipeout.

“Understood.” He picked up the sentry he’d built and moved it out into the open, aiming it at one of the BLU entrances in the yard. It was risky, but the sentry would provide as a cover and as a distraction. Once the control point was captured again, Heavy made his way back to the next control point. Second time’s the charm.

“We have captured the control point!”

Spy had reappeared behind him, still clearly disgruntled by his plan failing, “We must move quickly. I saw several BLU’s going to defend the next control point, and if we don’t get there first, I am afraid that this match will end very badly for us.”

“Understood. What will you do?”

“I spotted a particularly defenseless sentry just up ahead. Best let me take care of that one.”

“I will cover for you.”

Spy shook his head. He brought out a mask with the BLU Scout’s face on it. 

“Non. If you wish to make yourself useful, feel free to shoot at me to make my appearance more believable. The cover will not be necessary.”

Heavy nodded in reply, proceeding to open fire on Spy once he’d equipped his disguise. He rushed outside presumably to where the sentry was, but Heavy wasn’t about to follow after him. Spy was right about one thing; it would be a rather bad idea if Heavy tried to take care of what could’ve been a fully upgraded sentry all by himself.

After hearing the characteristic sizzling and beeping of a sapped sentry, Heavy stepped out into the open and destroyed the enemy dispenser in front of him. The BLU Engineer must have been elsewhere or dead, as he didn’t make an appearance to defend his equipment like before.

Heavy took a quick breather before making his way over to the control point. He was already starting to feel tired from all the running around, and being sent back to respawn so early in the match didn’t do him any favors. 

“Heavy! Oh thank god, they’re- they’re comin’ real quick man! We gotta find hide or somethin’!” 

Scout was coming from the BLU side of the base, covered in wounds and blood. He was sporting a large black eye, and his baseball bat was bent in several different locations. There was a very fearful expression written all over his face. 

“Who?”

“Th’ stupid BLU Heavy and Medic! I think I saw their Soldier an’ Pyro with em’ too, they’re comin’ real fast, and I did all I could to stop 'em, but they’re real angry! I think we gotta go!”

“Scout, where is Medic? We can call for backup.”

“Dude I don’t frickin’ know! He was with me, but I think- I think they got him. He ain’t gonna be back for a while...”

Heavy felt sharp guilt cut through him. If only he had been there to prevent it, Medic would still be alive. Of course he’d always come back thanks to the respawn, but those were wasted seconds. Medic knew that well.

Heavy didn’t blame Scout for running, either. There wasn’t much he could have done if they were both trapped. 

“It is okay. Let us find cover. We must regroup.”

Scout agreed, picking up a medipack as they made their way back to where Engineer was. He was still sitting near his dispenser and sentry and maintaining his position at the middle control point. Sniper had gone elsewhere, and Pyro still hadn’t returned, which was deeply worrying. 

“Back up fellas. Let me spy-check ya.” Engineer shot at the two of them, and once he’d deemed they were safe, he let them get close to his dispenser. 

“Ya weren’t able to get the control point I’m guessin’?”

Heavy shook his head, “Nyet. Scout said many BLU were coming, had to fall back.”

Engineer scratched his chin, a dismayed look on his face, “Hm. May need to call for some help… I ain’t too sure where th’ rest of the team is at, but they should be able to come help us secure the point if they ain’t busy. From what I’ve been hearin’, the BLU team is tryin’ their classic strategy of keepin’ us all separated.”

Scout, who was tending to his wounds with the help of the dispenser, said, “Guess that makes sense… but they seem to have it out for the doc this time. They went for him the whole time he was with me. Way more than they used to.”

“They probably don’t want him usin’ the ÜberCharge, son, an’ for good reason. Once he’s back out here, we gotta protect him th’ best we can.” 

Heavy and Scout both agreed. They were really going to need Medic, even more now than they had before. Engineer decided to make the call for backup, hoping that whoever heard on the other end would be able to help defend the middle point. The BLU team was closing in fast. 

Once Scout had been fully healed and regained his confidence and vigor, he declared that he would go out there and try to get his revenge. It was a rather bad idea, but the younger merc was much too determined to be stopped. That was, until he was shot down before making it all the way back to the building he and Heavy had come from. They could hear the BLU Sniper laugh mockingly in the distance.

“Holy hell!” Engineer smacked a hand to his helmet in shock. Before he or Heavy could do anything, a BLU Soldier had rocket jumped directly on top of them. 

It seemed that the BLU team was much closer than they thought.

“Hah! Bet you didn’t see that coming, you maggots!”

He exploded the dispenser and sentry with his rocket launcher, causing Engineer and Heavy to get sent flying.

Clutching his chest, which was now full of shrapnel and broken sentry metal bits, he clawed at the ground for his minigun which had been flung a few feet away from him due to the force of the blast. His ears were ringing, black spots dancing in and out of sight. Engineer was struggling to get to his feet, but was taken out once the Soldier had given him a good blow to the face with his shovel. 

Heavy was urgently pressing his earpiece, doing everything he could to call for Medic. He needed help, and fast. Doing his best to pull out his shotgun, as he was unable to reach his minigun in time, he took aim and fired at the Soldier. He laughed at Heavy and whacked the gun out of his hands with the shovel.

“DOKTOR! I NEED BACKUP!” Heavy yelled, hoping desperately that he was close enough to hear where he was. He raised his fists, blocking a few more hits from the Soldier.

“Your precious doctor isn’t coming, cupcake! Now face your death like a true American!”

Still weakened by the force of the blast, it was all Heavy could do to keep from falling over. He formed a defensive stance, blocking one, two, three blows from the shovel. Each hit cut another deep gash into his arms and hands, spraying blood into the dirt. He did his best to shake it off. Heavy couldn’t lose a fight like this, not now. 

There, in the corner of his eye, the hem of a white coat flashed in the distance. He heard the faint hum of the Medigun, and the panicked voice of his friend ring out;

“HEAVY! I am coming! Stay vhere you are!”

The Soldier groaned, but his wicked smile slowly returned to his face as if he’d made the greatest revelation.

Taking one of the grenades from his vest, he unlatched the hook on it and proceeded to throw it at Heavy’s feet. He backed up quickly, prepared to see Heavy blow up with glee. 

Heavy couldn’t do anything but watch in horror. He too tried to back up, but ended up stumbling and falling over his minigun, which was still lying in the dirt. All he could do was shield his face and eyes and brace for impact.

The explosion killed him near instantly. 

He was already low on health, he knew that much, but it was all the more disappointing and aggravating knowing that it could have been prevented. That he could have survived. 

He woke, his face pressed into the freezing tile of the respawn room the second time that day. 

“Блядь.” 

Translations:

Russian:

Красивый (Krasivyy) - Beautiful
мой друг (moy drug) - My friend
Блядь (Blyad’) - Fuck

German:

Dummkopf - Idiots

Chapter Text

– Sunday –

The match wasn’t going well for Medic.

It all started at the very beginning. He decided to follow Pyro and Scout, knowing that they usually got injured quickly. It would help to build up his ÜberCharge faster as he was aware of how much quicker it healed when the recipient was wounded as opposed to being fully healed. It seemed that would be his biggest mistake.

Scout clearly wasn’t used to having Medic helping him out, made evident by how reckless he became with the healing beam focused on him. It made Medic struggle to keep up with the speedy young merc, constantly losing his connection to him as he zipped around corners and jumped from high platforms. 

It left Medic seething. He needed to get his ÜberCharge, but how could he do that when the person he needed to get the charge from was throwing himself into every single fight and scuffle with no strategy or plan? It made Medic dearly wish he had started the match with Heavy, or anyone else for that matter. The ÜberCharge was just not worth it at this point.

It didn’t help that Medic found himself dying faster and faster with Scout as he desperately tried to follow and heal him, which often left him in the middle of a fight without any means of escape. After the fourth time he’d returned from respawn, having lost his ÜberCharge once again, he was seriously hoping to get his hands around Scout’s scrawny neck in revenge for his abandonments. 

Once he’d exited the respawn room again, he received a panicked call from Engineer. Picking up the pace, he did his best to listen to what the man was saying. From what he could hear through the gunfire and distant explosions in the background, he was stationed near the middle control point. A moment of silence. 

Then, Medic heard the alarmed voice of his friend, calling for help. His eyes widened in fear. Heavy needed him. 

It got even worse when he finally got there. Heavy had discarded his use of the earpiece, instead choosing to yell out for Medic in distress. Medic rushed towards the control point, eventually spotting him, bloodied and wounded. The enemy Soldier was taunting him, mocking him as he bled and fought desperately. Then, he brought out a grenade, unlatching one from the bandolier across his chest. 

Heavy’s eyes met his own. Medic could do nothing to stop it. 

The whole scene played out in agonizing slow motion. All he could do was watch, as the man he cared about so deeply was blown up right in front of him. He could barely breathe.

He’d seen men die before. This was nothing different. But why, why did it feel as though everything had collapsed in on itself? Maybe it was because the man before him needed his help. Maybe, hearing his cries for help cut deep into his core. Seeing the blatant fear in his usually calm eyes. He couldn’t explain it. He didn’t want to.

All he wanted to do was tear the BLU Soldier apart. 

All he could see was bright red rage.

Medic lunged at him, and everything went black.

He was snapped out of his fury after feeling someone shaking him by the shoulders.

“Holy shit, doc, can ya hear me? DOC!”

Medic looked up into the fearful eyes of Scout as his vision cleared of anger. He then stared down, realizing he was sitting in the bloody mass of what must have once been a Soldier. He was covered in blood and guts, fists clenched full of the mangled gore and insides of his enemy. Standing up hastily, he released the mutilated corpse from his grasp and picked up his dropped bonesaw, which he must have abandoned in place for using his own hands.

“Jesus… I think ya killed him pretty good. Might be kinda overkill though.” Scout said, kicking the Soldier’s arm with his foot for good measure.

Medic said nothing. He was still feeling the pure anger coursing through him, and he clenched his fists as he bent down to pick up his discarded Medigun. He must have left it behind at some point as well. It was all a blur. 

“I mean, did ya even use your bonesaw? How do you kill someone with your bare hands like that?”

“Herr Scout. Feel free to shut up, or else you vill be next.”

Scout raised his hands defensively, “Sorry, sorry. Understood. Shutting up now.”

The Soldier eventually disappeared, dissolving in blue light.

He and Scout chose to stand guard at the middle control point, waiting for more back-up to arrive. The RED team was incredibly scattered that round, for whatever reason. Medic didn’t care, so long as he was able to make the rest of the BLU team suffer in one way or another. Heavy, Demo, and Spy had joined up with them at the point, with Demo and Spy looking disturbed at Medic’s blood-splattered state. He must have looked intimidating. He still felt the twisted rage-filled expression on his face. 

Heavy almost looked guilty, as if he did something wrong. Medic couldn’t understand why he felt that way. But hey, he also seemed rather impressed that Medic had been able to hold his own against the Soldier, so he felt pleased with his success anyway. 

As the group finally managed to capture the second point, they pushed forward valiantly. Engineer and Pyro joined up with them eventually, providing extra support in the rear and protecting against any flanking attacks. The group moved in a unit, stabbing and shooting at anyone who tried to make a move against them. A BLU Spy was set ablaze for getting too close. The BLU Sniper got decapitated with a well swung longsword. An enemy Heavy got his guts pumped full of lead. All the while, Medic kept a close eye on his ÜberCharge, watching the dial tick upwards with each heal. 

…87%, 88%, 89%...

Bobbing and weaving in and out of his teammates, he did his best to avoid enemy fire, taking cover whenever he had the opportunity and attacking with his bonesaw when given the chance. Medic couldn’t afford to die, not when the team was so close to victory.  

Heavy stood off to the slide to reload his minigun. Medic took it as an opportunity to overheal him a bit, the two standing up against the wall of the BLU base to stay out of the line of fire. Demo rushed past them into battle with his longsword out, yelling obscenities at the enemy team as he charged them.

While he was reloading, Heavy took a moment to look the doctor over.

“Are you okay doktor?”

“Hm? Ja. I am fine.”

“You seem upset.”

“Vhat gives you zhat idea?”

Heavy gave him a look, “You looked very angry earlier. Still seem mad now.”

Medic shook his head, continuing to aim the Medigun at him. 

“Now is no time to talk Heavy. We hafe a point to capture.”

Heavy didn’t seem satisfied with that answer, but his question would have to wait until after the match. It was starting to get hectic again as more BLUs started appearing in an attempt to protect their last control point. The enemy Engineer was starting to set up a sentry, which Sniper was currently attempting to take out. Heavy and Medic helped him out and were able to destroy it before it could deal any real damage. 

Suddenly, a fizzing crackling sound emanated from the Medigun, signaling that the ÜberCharge was finally ready. Medic grinned and announced, “I am fully charged!”

Heavy smiled menacingly, raising his minigun in preparation for the onslaught, “ Now doktor!”

With a flick of a switch, the feeling of the ÜberCharge surged through both of them. Their combined bloodlust and power sent the enemy high-tailing it out of there, leaving the last control point open for capture. The rest of the RED team piled onto it, whooping and hollering as they gleefully watched their winning duo take down several BLU at once. Eventually, the ÜberCharge fizzled out, leaving Medic dazed. He nearly stumbled and fell due to the sudden rush of exhaustion, but Heavy caught him by the arm and steadied him before he did.

“Danke, mein freund.” Medic sat himself down on the concrete floor of the control point room. He rubbed his temples and groaned, feeling a huge headache coming on. Heavy crouched down next to him. 

“Everything fine?”

“Zhat is ze second time you hafe asked.”

“Just want to make sure.”

Heavy looked at him, eyes full of worry. The doctor didn’t reply, choosing instead to stand up almost as soon as he’d sat and follow the rest of the team back outside and back to the main base. He desperately needed a break from today. 

– Several hours later –

Medic had taken to isolating himself from the group for the hours following the match. It felt as though his head was going to split open, and he’d taken any medicine he could to alleviate the pain. Unfortunately, not even the Medigun could fix something like this. 

His doves crowded him, cooing and trying to make him feel better as he laid on an old couch in the medical wing of Snakewater. Their comfort was appreciated, but they could only do so much, being birds. Maybe he should consider teaching them how to properly care for people with migraines. 

The rest of the team had made the wise decision to leave him be. He made it pretty clear when Scout tried to apologize for leaving him behind so often, which caused Medic to start yelling at him profusely and wave a syringe in his face. 

Eventually, he fell asleep despite the massive pain he was in. He woke up hours later to a knocking on the door. Medic opened one bleary eye to glance through the medbay door’s window as to who could possibly be bothering him at this hour. Whoever had knocked was clearly not Heavy, but when he opened his eyes a bit more it seemed like he was indeed there. Along with two other people. Great.

“Ugh… vhat do you need?” Medic groaned, pressing the ice pack he had in his hand onto his head. He had no energy to yell at them or make them leave. Pyro, Engineer and Heavy stepped in sheepishly. 

“We just wanted to make sure ya were doin’ alright. Ya’ missed dinner, so Heavy thought we could tag along with him to bring it up to ya.”

“Und you needed a whole group of people to do that?”

Pyro, who chose to sign instead of mumble, signed, ‘We thought it would be nice to check up on you together.’ 

He took a moment to figure out what Pyro had signed, then replied with a sigh, “ .... Fine. Vhatever. It is not like I can kick you all out anyvays. I am in no state to do so.”

The three of them sat down near Medic’s couch, pulling up various chairs and stools that were laying around the room. Heavy handed him his food as he sat up, setting his ice pack off to the side. A few of the doves flocked to Pyro and Heavy, recognizing them from their visits before. Even Engineer had the opportunity to pet a few, remarking on how clever they were. They all talked for a while, with Medic mostly just listening to them chat. Thankfully their conversation didn't make his headache any worse, and, to be completely honest, he didn’t really mind that they were here. 

The doctor didn’t know what to make of their kindness. He was already fairly used to being alone. He was already surprised by how close he had become with Heavy. Medic didn’t know what to make of his thoughts or feelings, but he felt less put-off by them now that he’d managed to get acquainted with them. He deemed it all to be tolerable, as it didn’t interrupt his work. 

He originally just chalked it all up to something sentimental and foolish, but as the days flew by and the weeks continued to pass, he could feel the years of isolation and hatred withering away by the smallest, simplest conversations with his fellow mercenaries. 

Medic had done all he could to try and understand why it was happening, but no amount of hypothesizing or scientific experimentation could ever make him understand social relationships and their effects on him. He had to admit it almost frightened him. But not before he could also become intrigued by this new unknown. 

Pyro and Engineer eventually left, waving goodbye as they closed the door behind them. Heavy, as he always did, stayed behind and sat with the doctor on the couch to talk.

He ended up bringing the same question he had asked before during the match, “Why were you angry before? I have never seen you so mad.”

“Zhis again? Vhy do you keep bringing zhis up?”

“Just concerned.”

“Vhen are you not concerned?”

“Doktor. Please just answer question.”

“Fine, ich werde! Fine! You vant to know so bad? You vant ze truth? I vas furious at ze Soldier for killing you. I vanted revenge. I got it, in ze end, as you know. Is zhat vhat you vanted to hear, you nosy man?”

Heavy stared at him for a few moments, then a slow huge grin appeared on his face, his eyes full of amusement.

“Hah! Doktor avenges me!”

“So?”

“Ahh, you are my hero. Getting месть for me, how lucky I am to have you defend my honor!”

Medic felt his face burn, “Oh shut up, you Schweinehund.”

Heavy laughed so loudly it shook Medic to his core, “You are funny doktor! Always make me laugh. I am only teasing.”

“Am I really zhat easy for you to tease?”

“Only as easy as you make it.”

Medic scoffed, barely concealing a smile. As mildly annoying as the teasing was, it still made his heart skip a beat hearing Heavy laugh. That’s… odd.

The two laughed and talked and joked for a while longer, giving Medic the same amicable closeness and warmth he always felt when they were together. He indulged in that feeling. 

But once Heavy was gone, it felt empty. Hollow. As if his friend took it away with him when he left the room.

Medic stood up, head still pounding. He began to pace the length of the medical bay, deep in thought and ignoring the dull pain. Heavy had gone back to his own room on the other side of the base to sleep, leaving the doctor alone with his thoughts.

“Vhat could zhis all mean Archimedes?” He said out loud. The bird flew down to land on his shoulder.

“Coo.”

“Zhis feeling, you know vhat I mean! I feel so strange. It is unlike me.”

“Coo.”

“It isn’t as if I hate it. Vell, I did initially , but now I am just confused!”

Archimedes stared at him, as if waiting for him to make some kind of connection.

“Vell? Are you going to tell me? Vhat zhis feeling is? I know it is somezhing people feel often but… it has never been somezhing I cared for. I do not even know ze name of it. I pray I do not seem naive.”

“Coo.”


Frustrated, Medic set the bird down and continued his pacing. He couldn’t understand, but he really wanted to. Archimedes was no help at all. 

“Zhis is pointless. I hafe better zhings to do.” Turning on his heel and walking over to one of the drawers in the room, he opened it to reveal a small stack of blueprints. They were schematics for his new Medigun variations, all with their own unique attributes. They weren’t done, so he hadn’t yet brought them to Engineer to create them. 

He pulled out his latest version, which he had dubbed the Ktrizkrieg. It was more of a prototype Medigun than anything, but it had its benefits. Looking over the blueprint, he made little notes and adjustments. There was much needed improvement to the design… again, he’d probably have to talk to Engineer about it. 

As he worked, he took to doing small tasks around the medical wing to keep himself occupied while he thought up new ideas. It helped get his mind into a more linear thought process if he multi-tasked. Humming as he worked and cleaned, his mind began to drift aimlessly as it usually did when he worked well into the night and the early hours of the morning. Medic was only finished once the sun had started to light up the cloudy sky outside. He didn’t get much sleep, but at least his headache was gone.

He was tuning his violin a bit more, having nothing else to do, sitting on a stool hunched over the counter when he heard more knocking on his door. Sighing to himself, he got up and was greeted by none other than Sniper and Spy. 

“G’day doc.”

“Vhat do you two vant?”

Spy, who was looking more sickly and unwell than usual, straightened his tie and did his best to look well-kempt.

“I need nothing. The bushman dragged me here out of no free will of my own.”

“Spy’s sick doc. Not sure what, but he was coughin’ up a storm right outside my van. Could ya give him somethin’ to make him feel better?”

Spy rolled his eyes and attempted to light a cigarette. Sniper snatched it out of his hand before he could. This prompted him to bring out his switchblade and stick it right in Sniper’s face in retaliation.

“Never come between a man and his smoke, bushman.”

“You can’t smoke if you’re sick, ya bloody show pony!”

Medic was watching the two tiredly. He interrupted them before they could get carried away, “Do you vant me to give you medicine or not?”

The two men looked at him as if they just remembered what they had come to him for. Spy started coughing into his fist, dropping the blade away from Sniper’s face. 

Taking a moment to gather himself again, he sighed and responded, “Very well. I suppose I cannot do my job if I end up going into a fit behind my enemies.”

Sniper and Spy ceased their bickering and started talking normally, much to Medic’s relief. Although it was quite unusual seeing the two talking like friends rather than the constant argumentative duo they tended to be. 

After some basic tests and observations to see what Spy might’ve come down with, Medic chalked it up to the common flu. He didn’t have any vaccines on hand, seeing as they were still a rather new development and hard to come by in some places, so he gave Spy some simple antibiotics and a list of how to take care of himself while sick, just so he wouldn’t come back with questions later. 

“Thanks doc. Sorry for makin’ such a fuss so early.”

“Eh. Just doing vhat I vas hired for.”

“Aren’t we all.”

Medic crashed back onto his couch with a sigh once the two were gone. The exhaustion was starting to set in, and so was the regret about not sleeping. There was going to be a match today, and it would be happening in just a few hours. Maybe, he could take a short nap…

—--

He felt himself in a cloudy landscape, drifting rather than walking anywhere. He was holding two things in his hands. He couldn’t think of what they were. It didn’t matter. He has something he needs to do. 

An operating table had appeared in the white mist. 

“Beobachten Sie, wie sie den Einschnitt machen. Sehen Sie, wie sie es tun?”

“Ja. Ich schreibe es auf.”

“Gut. Denn sobald ich gehe, liegt es an dir.”

“Willst du mich nicht versuchen sehen? Was ist, wenn ich es vermassele?”

“Es ist mir egal.”

His hands trembled. What if he made a mistake? Why wouldn’t they care? He was a perfect student anyway, it didn’t matter. He was always the best. So why didn’t they let him do more once he had proven it? Why did they care once he did?

“Doktor.”

Medic looked over his shoulder. It was Heavy.

“Vhat do you vant? Can’t you see I am in ze middle of a surgery?” He held his bloody scalpel in one hand, the other resting on a surface he could not see. The scalpel was raised, prepared to make an incision in a man he didn’t know. 

Heavy shook his head and put a hand on Medic’s shoulder wordlessly. He was wearing all white, for some reason, his eyes dark with concern. What was he worried about?

“Are you not going to tell me?”

—--

Medic woke up being shaken awake. Heavy was standing over him, repeatedly calling his name.

“Doktor! You must wake up!”

“Okay okay. I am getting up.” The bigger man helped him up off the couch, using his hand to hold Medic’s and pulling him up. The doctor quickly pulled his hand away as if he was embarrassed by the brief contact.

“You were sleeping well. Didn’t want to wake you, but match is in two hours.”

“You could have woken me up later. I vas vorried zhat it vas an emergency.”

“I know. But I also know you like to prepare.”

Medic ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to comb the mess out of it. He must’ve looked like a wreck. 

“Know me zhat vell, huh?”

Heavy had started gathering some of Medic’s things for him already, looking back at him from across the room with various tools in his hands, “We are friends and talk often. What do I not know?”

A lot of things, is what he really wanted to tell him. But he wasn’t willing to open up more than he had already.

“I suppose you are right, mein freund. I suppose you are right.”

The two worked together to prepare for the next two hours, with Medic getting himself freshened up in the process. Another busy day was ahead for the both of them as they walked out the medical bay doors, down the hall, and outside to the transport truck, where the rest of the team waved hello to them upon arrival. Maybe, today would be better.

Translations:

Russian:
месть (mest’) - revenge

German:

Danke - Thank you
Mein freund - My friend
Ich werde - I will
Schweinehund - Bastard
Beobachten Sie, wie sie den Einschnitt machen. Sehen Sie, wie sie es tun? - Watch them make the incision. See how they do it?
Ja. Ich schreibe es auf - Yes. I am writing it down.
Gut. Denn sobald ich gehe, liegt es an dir. - Good. 'Cause once I go, it's up to you.
Willst du mich nicht versuchen sehen? Was ist, wenn ich es vermassele? - Won't you see me try? What if I mess up?
Es ist mir egal. - I do not care.

Chapter Text

– Monday –

“Ughh, why did it hafta start raining! This is so annoying!”

Heavy was doing his best to hold back from punching Scout, who was currently on the control point and guarding it from enemy BLU’s. He’d been complaining ever since the start of the match about the downpour, and it was only getting worse the more the rain kept coming.
 

Pyro was probably suffering the most out of all of them though, not only for their massive fear and hatred of rain and storms, but how it severely dampened their flamethrower abilities and made it near impossible to set people ablaze in the outdoors.

Their current match was taking place in a location known as Sawmill, which was near Snakewater. It rained frequently there, which made most Sawmill missions miserable for both teams. The massive hazardous sawblades located in the main capture area’s building didn’t make things any better.

“Scout. Faster we complete mission, faster we get out of storm.”

With a huff, Scout readjusted the bat in his hands, fiddling with it to keep his mind off things. He suddenly stopped what he was doing, glanced outside and squinted, trying to peer through the thick rain and noticing a figure appearing in the mist.

“Wait a minute. Is that Sniper comin’ at us?”

Heavy also turned to look out into the rain pouring outside, and sure enough Sniper was jogging into the building with his kukri in one hand and his rifle in the other.

Scout did not seem at all happy to see him. Running up to the Australian he asked, “What are ya doin’ down here Snipes? Aren’t you supposed to be on your little perch or somethin’? Ya know, givin’ us cover and all that?”

“Change of plans.” Sniper replied simply.

Neither Scout nor Heavy believed that at all. Something was off with him as he joined them on the control point, his expression much too stoic and his posture too stiff. Scout and Heavy exchanged silent glances, nodding at the other to do what needed to be done.

Scout wasted no time in swinging at Sniper with his baseball bat, aiming directly for the head for a well-swung spy-check. 

With a resounding crack, Sniper dropped to the floor in a heap, smoke rolling off his body as he transformed into the very familiar BLU Spy. Heavy took out his minigun and shot at him a few times for good measure, just to make sure he was dead.

“I frickin’ knew somethin’ was up with him! Thanks for the help, big guy.” Scout walked over to Heavy and gave him an oddly sweet pat on the back, even though he didn’t do all that much.

Heavy said nothing to that, instead taking the moment to check the time left for the first round. They’d been standing on the point for a good amount of time, and sure enough the time said;

3:00 | 2:47

Medic, who was drenched in rainwater and mud, came running in the same route the BLU Spy had as if he had been chasing after him. He had blood splashed across his front and was looking around frantically as he entered the building where Scout and Heavy were. 

Medic approached Heavy with his bonesaw out, proceeding to stab him as his own form of a spy-check. Once he was satisfied he asked, “Do you know vhere zhat BLU Arschloch vent? I saw ze Spy coming down zis vay!”

“Scout killed him.” Heavy answered. Medic sighed in relief.

Scout, who was still nearby, perked up at hearing his name. He looked over at the control point and saw Medic standing there and immediately got slightly anxious at the sight of him.

“Good, because I vas chasing him for 5 minutes! Ze bastard killed Herr Sniper right in front of me und tried to get away wiz it!” 

Heavy shook his head, silently feeling bad for what happened to Sniper. Instead of pressing the matter, he asked, “Where is rest of team? Not sure we have time left before rest of BLU team comes.”

“Zhey are all fighting on ze BLU side of ze base. Herr Engineer has a sentry nest set up, so I zhink ve hafe zhis match in ze bag, as ze Americans say!” Medic then turned around to see Scout standing off to the side quietly, which was unlike him. 

“Ah, Herr Scout, let me heal you. You are injured.” Pulling out his Medigun he started to approach the younger merc, but he backed up quickly as if Medic was coming at him with a flaming hot poker.

“Hah, uh, no thanks doc. I’m fine, really! Y’know I think I’ll go help Engie with that sentry thing or whatever. Yeah.” Scout replied hurriedly. He then laughed awkwardly and scurried off into the rain.

After he left, Heavy and Medic exchanged bewildered glances. Scout never turned down the opportunity for some extra heals, but something spooked him enough to make him bolt. 

“Vell, zhat vas peculiar.”

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Medic ripped a man wide open the other day, and from what Heavy had learned from the others, Scout was the one who saw the whole thing happen.

“Maybe little man was scared of you?”

“Ah… zhat vould make sense. Aheh, I vas quite mad yesterday, so I can understand ze fear…” He flashed an evil toothy smile at Heavy, clearly still proud of his revenge. It was strangely comforting to Heavy to have someone avenge his death so fiercely. 

“It was great what you did, doktor.”

“Ach, it vas nozhing. In fact, you should see vhat I can do wiz a pair of surgical scissors! Maybe you vill hafe ze opportunity soon, if any BLU decide to cross paths wiz me again.” To demonstrate, he brought out an incredibly large pair of nasty-looking scissors that seemed much too big to be reasonable. Why he was carrying them in the middle of a battle Heavy had no idea, but it was made even more hilarious when Medic continued to take out several other deadly surgery tools that he kept in his large lab-coat pockets. It was almost comical.

His reasoning for carrying so much equipment was something along the lines of ‘ You never know when the Medigun will fail on us, so I always needs to prepare by bringing my back-up tools!’. Heavy silently prayed that such a thing would never happen, because Medic seemed far too gleeful at the prospect of the Medigun failing (which would have returned via respawn anyway). It would give him the opportunity to plunge his tools into flesh in the name of good health. Heavy was also one-hundred percent positive the blood-stained equipment Medic carried had seen far more battles than operating rooms, and weren’t exactly fit to perform any life-saving surgeries. 

As if sent by Medic’s constant silent wishing for an opponent to test his surgical tools on, an enemy BLU Engineer had entered the control point building, soaked to the bone with rain and carrying some equipment. He began feverishly trying to set up a dispenser by the entrance of the building, his back turned to Medic who was standing several feet away with deadly weapons in his rubber-gloved hands. 

Heavy stood quite still, his eyes darting from the clock and Medic, who had looked back at him with a finger to his mouth as if to say, ‘shhhh’ . As a sly grin appeared on his face, he crept up to his distracted opponent. He was going to take the Engineer by surprise.

3:00 | 1:59

The Engineer let out a yelp as Medic stabbed his scissors straight through his left forearm. He missed the neck, which is what he was aiming for.

“What in sam hill-!”

The two grappled, the scissors still stuck in the BLU Engineer’s arm, spraying blood all over the floor. He was putting up a good fight and doing his best to fix his hands around Medic’s neck, giving him a big black eye in the process as a flailing hand smacked the doctor right in the face.

Medic gave him a good blow to his side with his elbow in retaliation, scrambling to get away as the other man wheezed from the hit. He then proceeded to remove another gnarly medical tool from his pocket. It was a massive syringe, and it was a good 8 or 9 inches in length and at least 6 centimeters in diameter. Heavy, who was watching the whole scene unfold in pure shock, seriously wondered when such a syringe would ever be needed in a surgery.

This particular syringe would probably never end up seeing one anyway, as Medic proceeded to plunge the entire length of it directly through one of the Engineer’s goggles. It pierced through his eye and impaled deep into his socket, causing him to wail in agony and clutch his head as he stumbled and fell to the ground with a thud. The doctor stood triumphantly over him, his messy hair still damp from rain and plastered across his head and face, glasses glinting in the light of the overhead lamps illuminating the room. His opponent died before him, eventually disappearing in blue light. The dispenser he was building fell apart as well.

Heavy was still standing on the control point, astonished at how one-sided and short the fight was. 

“Doktor, that was-”

“Impressive? Ja, I know. You alvays say zhis about me, but how could you not?” He laughed gloatingly and shoved his remaining tools back into his pockets. 

Medic began making his way over to Heavy when suddenly an arrow pierced his back, blood instantly blooming from where it entered through his shoulder.

“Gh-” He made a small noise and slumped forward. Heavy rushed to support him, holding him up by the arms and moving out of the way of the building’s opening in case any more arrows came flying. He hid beneath one of the staircases on the sides of the room, hiding behind a stack of planks and laying the injured doctor against them.

“Doktor, doktor can you hear me? Please, do not die on me! Пожалуйста!” Heavy said fearfully. The wound was bleeding more profusely now, slowed ever so slightly by Medic’s healing factor. 

“Heavy, you must get out ze M- Medigun. Do not remove ze arrow until I tell y- you.” His words slurred and stumbled due to the increasing pain caused by the wound. He gingerly touched the arrow impaled in his back, “Verdammt, das tut weh!”

“But- removing arrow is dangerous, doktor!”

Medic waved that away with a shaky hand, “Not wiz ze Medigun… I promise you, zis vill be fine, it is only a flesh wound. I vill tell you vhat to do, but ve must do zis q- quickly!”

Nodding, Heavy helped bring out the Medigun that was strapped to Medic’s back.

“Gut, now flip ze switch on ze side zhere and crank ze handle… zhat vill lock ze handle in place so you do not have to pull it.” He said, holding onto his injured shoulder. Heavy did as he was told, setting the Medigun down and to the side. He turned it on and made sure the healing beam was pointed in Medic’s direction. Instantly, he started to look better as the pain receded.

“Alright… now, you must remove ze arrow so I can heal properly. Ze Medigun does not remove arrows, unfortunately. Take out one of mein knives and tongs in ze left pocket, and make two cuts around ze wound on my back.” He turned over onto his back, the shaft of the arrow deeply embedded near one of his right shoulders. Heavy, with trembling hands ripped up part of the coat where the wound was so he could cut the bare skin. 

“Now make ze cuts. We don’t have much time.”

3:00 | 1:00 

Medic was right. Even when the match was over, the team would still need to deal with their remaining wounds. And, the longer the arrow stayed, the more likely it could cause additional or even permanent damage. 

Heavy made the cuts and waited for Medic to say the next step. He knew about arrow removal when it came to people more than Heavy did, and he wasn’t about to make any mistakes.

“N- now you take ze tongs, and use zhem to pull out ze shaft.”

Lifting up and placing the tongs around the shaft Heavy began to pull, wincing as Medic made stifled painful sounds. Slowly but surely, the shaft was pulled out completely, with the arrowhead miraculously intact. The wound closed up quickly once the arrow was out, with Medic taking in some deep breaths. Even the black eye he earned during the fight with the BLU Engineer cleared up, leaving his face remarkably unharmed. 

“Not bad for your first surgery mein freund!”

“Really?”

“Ja! You could make a fine doctor yourself!” Medic said with a laugh.

“Haha, no. Will not take job. Would be unfair.” 

Knowing that Medic was no longer in any danger or pain, Heavy felt immediately at ease again. 

The good feelings of his success would be dampened quickly, as the Administrator announced to the team;

“Alert! The control point is being captured!”

Medic looked down at his Medigun, “Ze ÜberCharge is not ready. But, zhat vill not be a problem for us , vill it?”

“Hah! With you by my side, I am impenetrable always.”

Although Heavy couldn’t see it, his words made Medic blush profusely. He still made an attempt to hide his face as the two stormed the control point, forcing the BLU Pyro, Scout and Demo that were trying to grab it to run for the hills. Heavy certainly didn’t notice Medic’s eyes lingered on him a bit longer than usual as he laughed valiantly at how his foes ran in fear.

“Mission ends in thirty seconds.”

The two re-captured their control point, Heavy firing even more rounds at the remaining BLU team that did their best to secure it before time ran out. A BLU Spy desperately tried to take him out with a well-placed backstab, but not before Medic could rush him with one of his signature bonesaws and run him straight through with it. Heavy turned around and gave the doctor a huge grateful smile.

“Thank you.”

“Of course, mein freund!”

“Five!”

“Four!”

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

“Victory!”

– Round 2 –

The RED team gathered back in the respawn room in preparation for the next round. Thunder rolled through Sawmill, shaking the building with a low rumble. Pyro was sitting on the ground and mumbling sadly about the rain to Engineer, who was doing his best to comfort them. 

Demo and Soldier sat on a bench and shared a beer that they smuggled in before the mission (alcohol was technically forbidden during matches, but nobody cared enough to enforce that rule), and Sniper and Spy were engaged in one of their usual arguments near an ammo locker.  

Scout was keeping his distance from Medic even now, still clearly uneasy. Medic paid him no mind, as he was in deep conversation with Heavy, who stood next to him near one of the misted windows.

“So, doktor, what is plan?”

“Vell, I hafe been running around wiz some of ze ozhers to see how zhey vork wiz ze ÜberCharge… und I zhink I vould prefer to stick wiz you.” 

“Really? So I am your favorite?” Heavy said with a tease as he felt an amused silly grin form on his face.

“Er- v- vell, I suppose vhen you put it zhat vay, I guess you are. Und I just… I vant to keep you safe.”

“Ah, you are worried for me. I will be fine doktor.”

Medic scowled at him and crossed his arms, “Do not be so foolish! Ze last time I vas not able to save you, as I am sure you remember, you vere blown to pieces! I vill not let such a zhing happen again!”

Heavy chuckled and gave Medic a reaffirming squeeze on the shoulder. He jumped a little at the contact, as if he became electrified. He was acting strange today.

“If you want excuse to fight together I will not say no. Is always fun to fight with you on battlefield мой друг.”

“Mission begins in 10 seconds.”

Everyone jumped up and started preparing, slinging weapon holsters and rounds onto their backs and strapping their knives, swords and other deadly melee weapons to their sides. Engineer cocked his shotgun, Heavy revved up Sasha, and Demo loaded in his sticky bombs. Medic cranked the handle of the Medigun, giving Heavy a bit of extra health as they waited. The feeling of the overheal gave him strength and stamina beyond his normal capacities. It wasn’t on the same level as the ÜberCharge, but it was certainly still something. 

The match began with the team thundering outside into the pouring rain. It had somehow gotten even worse, the slick sheets of water forming a fine mist that covered the ground in front of them. Pyro and Scout became more audibly upset at that fact as they sloshed through thick mud puddles. At least Sawmill had plenty of cover from the storm, with the entirety of the base being dotted with sheds and buildings.

The sounds of fighting emanated from the central building that held the control point. So far, nobody had managed to capture it. 

Heavy and Medic pushed into the building, with Soldier and Engineer following suit. Engineer instantly started to build a small sentry and dispenser near the entrance, supported by Soldier who was doing his best to give everyone very loud moral support through the sounds of booming thunder and pounding rain. 

“Run! Run puny weaklings! Я иду за тобой!” Heavy opened fire on the BLU mercs he saw, taking down a BLU Scout who had done his best to dodge the bullets but failing miserably. Medic laughed mockingly, delighting in the carnage while keeping the focus of his Medigun on Heavy.

An enemy sentry managed to get a few good blows into Heavy, forcing him to take cover. The injuries closed up rapidly, encouraging him to continue fighting. 

Despite the quick work of the Medigun, Heavy was soon taken down by several explosives set off by the BLU Demo, who was firing bombs from across the room. He blinked and found himself back in the respawn room and proceeded to make his way back outside in haste. Hopefully Medic had managed to escape and protect himself from the bombs before he too was sent back to respawn.

Thankfully, Medic had ran and hid near the newly established dispenser that Engineer had built, slumping up against the rain-soaked building. He noticed Heavy returning and rushed to his side, Medigun out and ready. 

“I am sorry mein freund… I tried my best. Zhey vill not get you a second time.” Medic said with an air of disappointment and guilt.

“Is nothing. I come back, and we continue to crush tiny pathetic men!”

As promised, the two stormed the building a second time and sent the few BLU that were still there flying. Engineer was able to move his sentry into the building and get it stationed in a good position, providing the duo enough cover to secure the point. 

“We have secured the control point!”

The clock slowly ticked downwards for the BLU team. Time was going to start running out for them soon if they didn’t do something. 

There, from across the building, the opposing Heavy and Medic charged up.  

Charged?  

They had an ÜberCharge of their own!

Medic let out a cry of outrage at seeing his invention in the hands of the enemy, taking away the RED team’s greatest advantage. Someone had given them the ÜberCharge ability as well. Maybe, this is what the BLU Spy had been looking for when he had infiltrated the RED base several days ago. Maybe the ambush was a distraction to try and get the rest of the blueprints.

Heavy knew it was a bit of a stretch, but he could think of no other reason as to why they now had the ability themselves. 

But now wasn’t the time to theorize. Heavy and Medic had much bigger problems. Namely, escaping the BLU’s line of fire so they wouldn’t get turned into ÜberCharge swiss cheese. 

“We have lost the control point!”

2:58 | 2:01

The doctor was absolutely seething as he peeked out from the pile of planks he was hiding behind to watch the BLU Medic and Heavy use his ÜberCharge to wipe out any RED mercs that were scrambling to run away. Scout, Soldier and Engineer were hiding next to him as well, utterly shocked by what they were witnessing. 

“Zhey- zhey stole mein greatest creation! Zhey vill pay for zhis… Ich werde sie alle leiden lassen!” He spat, pure venom and hatred in his voice. 

“This is the frickin’ worst! So now they have the cool invimibl- invent- invicin-whatever thing too? What the hell are we gonna do?!”

“This is unacceptable! We must kill them all immediately, men! Prepare to open fire!” Soldier declared as he reloaded his rocket launcher, ready to run out there and get himself blasted to bits.

Engineer pushed Soldier back with a hand to keep him from jumping out into the fray, “Let’s wait this out fellas. It shouldn’t be much longer, if their uber is anythin’ like ours.”

Sure enough, the ÜberCharge wore off for them as predicted, leaving them vulnerable. It was clear they were inexperienced with their new ability as they stood on the control point, not sure of what to do next. Unfortunately for them, Medic’s own ÜberCharge had just reached 100%. 

With a wicked smile, Medic looked up into Heavy’s eyes with a glimmer of malice. 

“Mein freund, vill you slaughter zhem like pigs wiz me?”

“Always, doktor.”

It all happened so fast that it was rather embarrassing for the enemy team. The BLU Medic and Heavy stared in shock and fear as their RED counterparts appeared from behind the planks, charged and full of rage. The Heavy was shot down in an instant and turned into a fine red mist. The Medic backed up so fast that he hadn’t realized he’d run straight into one of the deadly sawblades in the room, which cut him clean in half. Scout and Soldier instantly ran into battle once the BLU team made a run for it, putting themselves on the control point to capture it. 

As the rest of the match flew by, Heavy and Medic were able to get a few more charges in, pushing the BLU team farther back into their own base in the process. It left the two more and more exhausted after each one, but the adrenaline kept them going. Eventually, after their sixth ÜberCharge fizzled out, Medic eventually fell face-first into the mud from fatigue.

“Doktor!”

Heavy ran over to him, scooping him up into his arms. Medic had a dazed look on his incredibly muddy face as he attempted to stand, putting all his weight into Heavy. 

“Urgh… zhat vas unexpected. Did not realize just how tired ze ÜberCharge had been making me lately! I vill hafe to take some notes und observations…”

Only Medic could see the scientific side of nearly passing out in the mud. The bigger man helped him up as the doctor attempted to wipe the mud off his glasses. He then sneezed violently, sending his glasses flying out of his hands suddenly and back into the mud.

“Verdammt! Now I fear I am getting sick as vell!”

“Good thing match is almost over, da?” Heavy chuckled, picking up the glasses and wiping them clean. He handed the glasses over to Medic, who took them and straightened them on his face.

“Ja, ja. Let us get zhis over wiz, zhen.” He said, raising his Medigun once more. 

– 4 hours later –

The RED team had won despite the rough second round, and even though everyone desperately wanted to celebrate the success their trudge back to Snakewater left them all even more bone-tired. Everyone was soaked in rain and covered in mud, grime and blood. Nobody was really in any mood to do anything except cozy up next to the fire with warm food and drinks.

Pyro was adamant on doing a sleepover, mumbling and signing frantically about the benefits of it and how much better they’d all feel if they slept as a group for warmth. It was clear that they just wanted to have some comfort after such a grueling day, but nobody was about to turn them down. Demo and Scout were probably the most on-board with the idea, as Scout immediately started boasting about his awesome sleepover abilities. Growing up with so many siblings there was no doubt he had some experience. Demo was just happy to have some company to sleep next to.

Heavy was silently glad for the whole thing. It reminded him of the times he spent with his family, and how they’d have little sleepovers even as adults. It gave him a sense of childish joy he rarely felt. He also had to admit, he was very curious to see what sort of pajamas Medic wore. He never saw the man in any kind of comfortable clothing, so it would be pretty funny to see him wear something so casual. 

Once a surprisingly well made pillow fort had been constructed near the fireplace (courtesy of Pyro and Scout) and everyone was in comfortable clothing (save for Spy and Medic, but Medic hadn’t arrived yet and Spy was… well, Spy), they began the sleepover by recounting scary stories and folktales from their respective homelands just for the hell of it. Sure, they were tired from the battle, but you couldn’t go wrong with a couple spooky tales to really get you into the sleeping mood. 

Medic was taking a long time to emerge from the medical bay, which prompted Heavy to go looking for him. It was odd, since he didn’t seem very opposed to the sleepover idea when it was proposed. Maybe he was still fuming about the ÜberCharge theft thing from earlier.

Knocking three times on the door, Heavy awaited a response from the doctor. He was greeted by him feeding his birds, and much to Heavy’s delight he was indeed wearing casual clothes. He almost had to stifle a chuckle, as Medic was even wearing an old-timey nightcap to go with the outfit. 

“If you are wondering if I vill be joining ze sleepover, zhen do not vorry, I vill join shortly. I vas just feeding ze birds before I did.”

Heavy unfortunately could not hold back his laughter any longer once he’d realized that Medic was also wearing animal slippers made to look like doves. All sense of formality and style was thrown out the window in favor of comfort. It also made him look extremely huggable.

“Ah! Heavy! Vhat is wiz ze hug?” 

“Haha, you just look cozy.” Heavy said after releasing him. That earned him a rather goofy smile from Medic. 

“Now, let us go to sleepover!” Heavy declared, leading Medic to the main building with silly grins on their faces.

—

“And then, ya wanna know what happened?”

“Oh for pete's sake laddie, just tell us already.”

“Shuddup! I’m gettin’ there! Let me build up the suspense!” Scout said, waving his arms around.

Everyone had gathered in a haphazard circle in the middle of the room, sitting on various pillows and other things that the group deemed comfortable. When Medic and Heavy returned, they found Scout telling one of his made-up spooky stories. The mercs looked up eagerly to see their usually stoic doctor dressed so informally, and it even caused Sniper to start chuckling at the sight. Medic paid none of them any mind, either too worn-out to threaten any of them or just too indifferent to their snickering. As he and Heavy sat down next to each other, Scout continued his story, all bundled up in a home-made sweater that said ‘Mama’s Boy’ on the front.

“Right, so anyways, the guy an’ the lady eventually drove to this cliff so they could stargaze or whatever goofy crap couples like to do. They parked there an’ started talking, but then they noticed that it was real quiet. Too quiet.” Scout added the last bit with a scary tremor in his voice and excessive finger-wiggling, which caused the group to do a collective eye-roll.

“Then all ov’a sudden… the lady said she heard somethin’ outside the car. Like an animal, or a breeze. So the guy got out his flashlight and got outta th’ car, kinda lookin’ around for whatever it was. Then two minutes, three, four, an’ he still hadn’t come back. Then, she got outta the car too, calling out for him. She heard him in the distance out in the woods, but she was too scared to venture out, y’know? So she kinda just waited for a while by the car, wonderin’ if she should chase after him.”

Despite everyone’s feelings about Scout’s story, the group leaned in to hear what would happen next. 

“But she was too curious. So y’know, she went off into the woods an’ followed his voice. But the closer she got, the weirder it felt… suddenly, in a flash of light, a big UFO appeared in the trees! The guy was nowhere to be found, an’ eventually neither was she! They both frickin’ died! The end.”

Demo groaned and face-palmed. Pyro let out a few disappointed mumbles and crossed their arms. Engineer merely shook his head.

“Laddie ya can’t just build it up ta’ make it end like that!”

“What!? It was good! Aliens are scary!”

“Son, maybe you should uh… work on your conclusion a lil’ bit.”

Scout crossed his arms with a huff.

“Well, if my story sucked so much why don’t one of you guys tell one next if they’re so much better, huh?”

Engineer cracked his knuckles, a grin forming n his face at the challenge, “Alright partner, you asked for it. Now, lemme tell ya’ll about this one time when I was just a boy. Me an’ my father loved to hang out by th’ campfire and tell spooky stories, but lemme tell ya’, there was this one that always scared th’ pants right offa’ me…”

The stories passed by in quick succession. Each merc, even Heavy, had some tales to tell. Most of them were about folklore, with Demo talking about the horrible Loch Ness Monster once Engineer had finished up his frightening tale of the Ghost Gator, something his father told him about as a child, and how it never stopped hunting its prey even after death. 

Scout even went back and fixed his own story, which left everyone rather impressed with the improvement. Instead of his story ending as abruptly as it did, he added an interesting twist by turning the woman into an alien-killing machine after she came across several alien weapons aboard the ship. Scout certainly could get descriptive.

Slowly but surely everyone started to fall asleep, with Soldier passing out first. He fell in a heap, snoring against Demo who also conked out not long after. They snored loudly as the remaining mercs did their best to tell their stories. But it had barely crossed midnight when Engineer, Sniper, Pyro and Scout also succumbed to sleep. Spy eventually got up and left, still coughing a bit from the flu he’d caught. He didn’t sleep with the rest of the team, saying it was because he’d much rather sleep in a bed than on the floor. One couldn’t blame him for that. 

Heavy and Medic talked in hushed whispers for an hour or so once everyone was snoozing away in comfortable heaps. Medic mostly ranted about his frustrations regarding the ÜberCharge, with Heavy listening to his quiet venting with concern and care. He knew how much Medic’s inventions meant to him, and how upset he was about someone stealing his work. Nobody knew how it happened, not even Miss Pauling, who had received an earful from Medic after the match was over. She didn’t say much, claiming that the whole situation would be handled but that the details would remain ‘confidential’. This caused Medic to get all the more angry about it, and he made it known with his words.

Eventually the topic shifted to other things. Medic began asking questions about Heavy’s life and family, as he liked to do. 

There was something about the doctor that made Heavy feel comfortable enough to open up about his personal life. Medic was still rather reserved about his own experiences and family, but some details were better left unsaid, and Heavy wasn’t about to pry more than he had already. It seemed to take a great deal of effort to get Medic to talk about anything emotional, which was no fault of his own. 

The two fell asleep, snoozing peacefully and arms linked together as they rested. It wasn’t the most comfortable position to sleep in, but Heavy didn’t mind in the slightest.

As long as they were together.

Translations:

Russian:
Пожалуйста (Pozhaluysta) - Please

я иду за тобой (ya idu za toboy) - I am coming for you

Мой друг (Moy drug) - My friend

German:

Herr - Mr
Verdammt, das tut weh - Damn that hurts
Mein freund - My friend
Ich werde sie alle leiden lassen - I will make them all suffer

Chapter Text

– Tuesday morning –

The first thing Medic noticed when he woke up was how warm it was. It was actually quite pleasant, and it almost felt like being enveloped in a heavy, cozy blanket.

There was rustling around him, hushed whispers and maybe even stifled laughing somewhere, but it didn’t bother him. He chose to get closer to the heat, keeping his eyes tightly shut. He could feel the morning sun on his face and he didn’t dare try to look around, lest he lose the feeling of comfortable sleepiness.

Sure, the wooden floor wasn’t the most cozy place to sleep on, but it wasn’t all that bad.

The second thing he noticed was how strangely ill he felt. A strange chill was making him feel colder than he was, so he brought himself even closer to the warmth.

… wait a minute. The heat next to him was moving and breathing. 

Medic snapped his eyes open, staring at the sleeping face mere inches from his own. The warmth he was feeling was attributed to the fact that a very large arm was wrapped around him. 

His breath caught in his throat as he did his best not to implode from the cacophony of emotions coursing through his mind as he stared directly into Heavy’s slumbering face.

Doing his best to wriggle out and under Heavy’s arm without waking him, he slowly raised his own arms up and tried to scooch away. Despite his best efforts the movement caused Heavy to jolt awake, his tired eyes meeting the doctor’s own. His expression changed from surprise, confusion and awkwardness in just a few seconds as he backed up as fast as his exhausted body could move.

Heavy didn’t seem capable of words, his face flush with embarrassment. The two stared at each other in silence for a few moments before they became aware of the fact that they were not alone in the room.

Scout, who was sitting against one of the walls with Pyro nearby, started snickering into his hand loudly. The arsonist gave him a good whack to the shoulder and made a few stern mumbles about not making fun of them. 

“Okay, okay, jeez Pyro!” The younger merc cleared his throat, “Anyways, welcome back ta’ the land of the living you two. You guys were like, super out of it. I almost thought you were dead or somethin’.”

Medic felt fatigue in every inch of his body. The surprise of waking up to his friend’s face so close to his own was fading away in place of annoyance at Scout.

“How- how many of you saw?”

“Well I dunno , all of us? Engie told us not to wake you guys up, but I stuck around to totally not make fun of you guys, like at all.” Scout said, doing his best to not come off as sarcastic and failing spectacularly. Pyro was shaking their head disapprovingly at him as they continued to read the comic they were holding.

Medic had taken to standing up now, feeling the strange sickness overwhelming him again. Beckoning Heavy over to a separate room away from Scout and Pyro’s prying eyes, he felt remorseful for getting so close to someone who may not have been comfortable with it and wanted to apologize for it.

“I am so sorry for zhis Heavy. I did not mean for us to get so close vhen I fell asleep last night.” The doctor said to him apologetically. 

Heavy shook his head, looking equally guilty, “Нет doktor. I am more sorry. I hope you were not uncomfortable. Whole arm was wrapped around you, must have been awkward.”

Actually, it was wonderful. 

Shaking away the thought, Medic continued, barely meeting Heavy’s eyes, “Nein, mein freund. It is quite alright. I promise if you had made me uncomfortable, I vould hafe made it known by now.”

“Good. I am glad you are not upset.” Heavy sighed, looking considerably more relieved.

I could never be upset at you.

The doctor cast him a simpering smile, “Never. It vould take a lot for you a lot to make me upset! Now eh, I need to take a moment to sit down, bitte.” Sinking down to the floor, he began to feel cold sweat break out on his forehead. He coughed into his hand, feeling the sick feeling traveling up his throat.

“Doktor? Are you alright?” Heavy crouched down to look Medic in the eyes with worry. He was always so worried.

“Aheh, I am afraid not. It appears I hafe caught a cold. Ze match yesterday vas not kind to me it seems.”

Despite getting cleaned up yesterday after the match and doing his best to stay warm, he had spent so much time outside in the rain during the first and second rounds that no amount of warmth would’ve prevented this. It didn’t help that he recently came in contact with Spy, who had been suffering a cold as well. All he could hope for now was that he would recover enough to make the next match.

“You should go back to room. Get more rest.”

“Who is ze doctor here? You, or me?”

Heavy pursed his lips but said nothing. 

“Now, I should really be returning to ze medical bay. I hafe vork to do und I hafe slept in for much too long.” The doctor shakily got up to his feet. 

“Let me help.” 

Heavy helped Medic up by the arm and followed him back to the medical bay, just to make sure he actually made it all the way there without falling. Medic was too tired to shoo him away or even tell him that his concern was a bit extreme. He only had a cold, and Heavy seemed much too anxious about it.

“Alright Heavy. You can go if you wish, I can take care of myself from here.” The doctor said once they’d both reached the med bay, already starting to gather up some notes in an attempt to work on them. The doves that were previously asleep started waking up around the room and watching their owner flit about. Heavy was still unmoving and standing in the open doorway, watching him with brows furrowed and arms crossed.

“Nyet, not until I see that you rest.”

Medic gave him a stern look, papers clenched in his shaky hands. The cold sweat was now accompanied by a growing headache and stuffy nose, which he was doing his best to ignore.

“Oh please, I can rest later. As you recall I vas sleeping not too long ago, und I hafe just barely gotten up!”

“You still need more rest doktor. Otherwise you will get sicker.”

Medic scowled, about to make a retort but began coughing before he could do so. Heavy raised his eyebrows, his arms still firmly crossed. The doctor sighed in defeat and set his papers down again.

“Fine, you win. But promise me you von’t let me rest all day, I still hafe stuff to do you know! I cannot afford to vaste any time!”

“Of course мой друг. But only if you promise me that you will take care of yourself.”

“Okay, I promise.” Medic said with another sigh. As he made his way back to his room, which was attached to the medical bay, Heavy kept a close eye on him to make sure he really was going to get the rest he promised he’d get. It was a little annoying having someone be so overbearing, but it wasn’t something that bothered him as much as it usually would have. Maybe it was because he was tired, or maybe it was something else entirely; he honestly didn’t know.

As soon as he hit the old bed, instant fatigue took him over. Medic was already so tired, and he hadn’t even done all that much. It seemed the cold was taking a bigger toll on him than he’d thought. 

It was a little ridiculous that he of all people had to get sick, and not only that, but be scolded about it by Heavy. He was a doctor after all, and was well aware of his own sickness, but it was nothing! He had work to do!

Well, he’d have work to do after a short nap. A little sleep wouldn’t hurt.

As he slipped into a restless, feverish sleep, he could barely feel the covers enveloping him, the large hands that brushed his face briefly, or hear a voice saying goodbye.

–

This time, the dream was different.

He found himself looking into a mirror, which was suspended within the familiar white mist that so frequently haunted his dreams. He was in an endless white room, a light that was emanating from everywhere so blinding that it forced him to squint his eyes. Medic turned to face the mirror once he’d finished staring around the expanse of his mind.

“You are an embarrassment.”

He stared deeply into his gaunt reflection, anger boiling inside of him. Who did the reflection before him think he was?

“Ha! In vhat vays? I zhink I am far from an embarrassment, zhank you.”

“You have grown far too soft, Ludwig.”

“So? Is zhat so bad? I actually hafe a friend for once, one zhat does not hate me. I zhink being a little soft has done more good for me zhan anyzhing else.” Medic fired back. It felt strange to say it all out loud, but there was honesty in every word he spoke. 

The reflection paused, then said in a low voice, “If you are going to be soft, ze least you can do is admit your own feelings. It is getting to be pathetic.”

He felt unease creep up his spine, “Feelings? Vhat feelings? If you aren’t going to be clear wiz me, dummkopf, zhen you can Verpiss dich jetzt.”

The reflection laughed mockingly instead of replying. He eventually disappeared and left behind nothing but the mirror itself. What a pointless conversation, Medic thought to himself bitterly. 

He walked away from the mirror and farther into the mist. 

Medic walked for so long he lost track of time, unsure of what to do or where to go next. An odd impending sense of dread began to overwhelm him. Then he heard an odd noise, and looked down, nearly tripping over himself as he stopped in his tracks.

A man was dying right in front of him. 

It wasn’t the fact that he was dying that shocked Medic, but rather the fact that the man was Heavy. 

The scene shifted. He was back in the Badlands, but something was wrong. The doctor stood and looked in horror at his surroundings, gazing at the wrecked RED base. Everything around it was scarred from large explosions, black smoke and flames slowly rising from the roof of the destroyed building and clouding the dark sky. The sky and surrounding landscape was a hazy ashy blur, burning Medic’s throat and eyes as he struggled to breathe through the thick hot air. The rest of the team were nowhere to be found.

“Doktor… you must flee.”

Medic gazed fearfully into Heavy’s eyes, who was surprisingly unconcerned with the fact that the entire lower half of his body was a charred molten mess, cauterized and burned from the force of an explosion. What made the whole thing worse was how Heavy brought his shaky, weak hand up to caress the side of Medic’s face, leaving a streak of blood and ash across his cheek.

“I- I can’t just leave you here. I can still get help!” Medic cried, clinging onto Heavy’s arm in desperation.

“Nyet, doktor. The Medigun is gone. I will not last. Save yourself.”

The doctor could barely speak. He choked, his eyes watering from the ash in the air and the overwhelming grief filling his mind.

“I won’t leave you here alone to die.”

—

Medic woke up in a cold sweat, breathing shallowly. His hands tightly clenched the large blanket surrounding him and he squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to stop any tears from welling up in them. The nightmare stuck out so vividly in his mind, constantly replaying the horror of it as if it were some broken record. He did his best to take deep, steadying breaths, trying to calm himself down. 

The nightmare was bizarre, to put it nicely. He’d been in scenarios where he knew he couldn’t save the other person. It was inevitable, especially now as he’d started his life as a field medic to a bunch of mercenaries with no self-preservation. But the strange despair of the dream, the sense of loss and failure was something he was not expecting. 

Sitting up he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked out the window on his right. It was still daytime, but rain had started to fall, casting a dark gray light into the room. At least he wouldn’t be doing another mission out there today, which was a relief. Today and tomorrow would be break days. 

As Medic stared blankly out the window he wondered what he could possibly do now. Sleeping was out of the question, especially after having such a horrible nightmare. Maybe, if Heavy was gone, he could finally finish his work without him knowing. Getting his mind off things and keeping busy always helped him in these situations.

Peeling himself out of the piles of blankets and sheets he was tucked in with, he opened the door after dressing himself in more suitable clothing and peered down the short hallway to the medbay, which still had its lights on. He peered through the small window in the door, groaning in mild annoyance as he saw Heavy still inside. He seemed to be doing something, but what that thing was was not clear. 

But Medic couldn’t bring himself to go back to bed now. Even if he couldn’t work, he could at the very least get some medicine for his pounding headache.

Opening the door cautiously, he tried his best to sneak behind Heavy, who had his back turned to the door. With a clearer view at what he was doing, it was apparent that he was preoccupied with feeding Medic’s doves, which he had not been able to do earlier that day. It warmed his heart to see how caring his friend was for his birds, but now was not the time to fawn over such things. He was on a mission to get medicine and escape unnoticed so he wouldn’t suffer a scolding. 

Heavy tensed up and slowly turned around, doves all over his shoulders as he fed them. He must have sensed Medic’s presence behind him. The bigger man’s pleasant features turned into a scowl as he spotted the doctor crouched low to the floor and attempting to sneak behind him.

“Doktor, why are you out of bed already? Has not even been three hours!”

“Ah, you see, I needed medicine und-”

“And you thought sneaking into medbay was good idea? Why not ask me?”

Medic stood up straight, now incredibly annoyed, “I did not zhink I needed your permission.”

“Not what I meant. I could have brought it to you. Was just about to check on you anyway.”

“I could not hafe known, you cannot blame me for zhat! Zhis is foolish… I vill get ze medicine und back to bed, you do not need to coddle me!” Medic replied in mild frustration, not bothering to hold back his bitterness. 

He was getting exasperated with Heavy, not understanding why he was being so overbearing. It didn’t help that he was getting sicker by the minute, which only contributed to his increasingly bad mood.

Heavy didn’t say anything back at him as he watched the doctor rummage around in various cabinets for what he needed. He still unfortunately did not have any proper vaccines with him, having to wait a few days for the next shipment, but antibiotics and other medications would suit him just fine. Shoving past the various stored primate and whale organs piled haphazardly in the cupboard, he eventually found and retrieved what he had been looking for. 

Taking a few pills, he felt his hands shaking as he opened the cap. Heavy seemed to take notice of Medic’s growing impatience and anger and said quietly, “Doktor, I am sorry. I just care about you, want you to get rest without having to worry.”

Medic felt a pang of regret in his chest and sighed quietly, “No, I am sorry, Heavy. I should not hafe gotten so mad at you. I just… I am just tired, und took zhat out on you.”

Heavy studied the smaller man for a moment, “There is something wrong.”

The doctor downed his pills in one go, turning to see Heavy approaching him with growing sympathy in his eyes. 

“...I am afraid zhat you are right about zhat, mein freund. I vas hafing issues sleeping, und not just because of ze cold. It vas a nightmare.” 

“Was it about family again?”

Medic couldn’t bring himself to lie. At the same time, however, he didn’t know how willing he was to admit to his friend that he had a dream about him, especially with how upsetting it was.

To hell with it. Getting these feelings off his chest now would be better than holding it in.

“Nein. It vas about somezhing else. About you und me.” Medic started fiddling with the pill bottle still in his hands as he spoke and looked down, not daring to meet Heavy’s eyes, “I cannot remember ze first half of ze dream very vell. But ze second half vas much more vivid. I vas vatching you die in front of me, unable to help you. You told me to run. But I couldn’t bring myself to.” 

Heavy, who had been listening quietly, moved forward to wrap Medic up in a hug. It wasn’t like the spine-crushing ones he gave when he was overwhelmed with excitement or glee, but one of gentleness.

It was comforting and sweet, and it made the doctor all the more happier that his nightmare wasn’t real. 

“Instead of rest, doktor, why don’t we do something you like? If can not sleep, doing other thing might help.” Heavy finally suggested after a few moments. 

Medic thought about it after pulling away, “Hm. Vell, I vould not mind playing chess. I still need to get mein revenge on you for our last match!”

The bigger man gave a hearty laugh and gave Medic a big slap on the back that nearly toppled him. Before they left together to retrieve the chess set, however, the doctor made it a point to wear a surgical mask he had lying about so he wouldn’t get anyone else sick. Worried that Heavy would get ill from being in close contact he also proceeded to shove some antibiotics into his hands just in case. Medic wasn’t about to take any chances.

The rest of the base was quiet, save for a few conversations that wafted from around corners and hallways, or the occasional clap of thunder in the distance to accompany the sound of rain pounding the windows and walls. 

Medic and Heavy were about to pass through the large central area of the building when they saw a rather humorous sight, causing the two to stop in their tracks; Soldier and Demo, both completely soaked to the bone, were sitting upon a picnic blanket right in the middle of the room and laughing loudly about something. 

They were sharing what must’ve been a picnic basket with food, but all of it was soggy and muddy, as if they’d teleported from the inside of a huge rainstorm to the center of the room. What made the whole scene even sillier was the fact that they were holding pink bedazzled ceramic silverware and teacups. The two waved happily at Medic and Heavy as they looked around the scene before them.

“Hullo laddies! Me an’ Solly are just havin’ ourselves a picnic! We had ta’ move inside when it started rainin’, but no bloody weather is gonna ruin our fun! Pyro even let us borrow some o’ their silverware!” Demo showed off the colorful cutlery with a proud smile.

“It was all part of me and Heavy’s brilliant strategy! Without his help this picnic would not have been made possible!” Soldier proclaimed.

Medic turned to give Heavy an incredulous look, “You helped zhem set up a picnic?”

“Nyet. Just gave him idea.”

Soldier piped up again, “Affirmative! He will credited during the debriefing! I will not forget his sacrifice!” 

Demo shook his head, putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder, “Solly, I don’t think that this needs a debriefin’, an he ain’t sacrificin’ himself for a picnic! We’re just hangin’ out.”

Soldier shrugged and took a dainty sip out of the teacup he was holding. The two went back to their prior conversation, leaving Medic and Heavy to walk out of the room in amusement.

“Vhen did you tell Herr Soldier about a picnic, Heavy?” Medic asked after they had left Soldier and Demo’s earshot. 

“When me and rest of team were at Landfall. Came to me for advice on friend activities, I told him reading and picnics were good. Guess he liked idea.”

“I did not know zhat picnics vas somezhing you liked to do! Vhy did you not tell me?”

“Did not think doktor would like it.” Heavy admitted with a shy smile.

Medic gave him a playful nudge to the shoulder, “How dare you assume zhese zhings about me! I vould love to go on a picnic wiz you sometime mein freund, it vould be wunderbar.”

Heavy beamed at him and laughed again, proceeding to give Medic a side hug and wrapping his arm around his shoulders. The doctor returned the smile under his surgical mask, his eyes crinkling with happiness.

“Now, you must tell me about ozher zhings you like to do! Besides all of ze zhings I know already, of course.”

“Well, I would like to listen to you play violin more.”

Medic’s face grew hot, looking anywhere but Heavy’s own so he wouldn’t see his embarrassment, even with his face covered, “Aheh, vell- only if you vant! I did not know you liked mein playing so much.”

“Da, I do. It is beautiful.”

“Danke... Zhen I shall play for you! Perhaps after chess?”


“I would love that, doktor.”

– 

The two took to playing chess on one of the small round tables situated under a window in the main base area, enjoying the view of the outside sounds of the rain as they talked and made their moves. The conversation drifted from talking about their teammates, to telling stories about each other’s lives, to jokes and bragging about the successes they managed during matches. After several rounds of chess Medic was even able to scrape a few wins in spite of his sickness. 

The rest of the team waved as they walked past, with Engineer and a few of the others stopping by to chat and ask if Medic was doing better, having been informed of his illness. Thankfully nobody that came by (besides Scout) made any mention of the morning incident. The doctor was surprised by all the thoughtfulness, but certainly not against it. As foolish and aggravating as his fellow teammates may have been on most days, their company was nevertheless appreciated.

As the chess matches wore on Medic became increasingly exhausted. The medicine he took helped the pain but it didn’t take away his tiredness. Heavy noticed this and offered to take Medic back to his room, which he obliged to. He felt bad for not being able to fulfill his promise with the violin, but Heavy didn’t seem at all disappointed. There was more concern than anything else.

Medic couldn’t help but wonder how someone like him was able to have a friend so kind and genuine. All he could hope for was that Heavy was as happy in his presence as he was in his.

Once Heavy had left Medic alone in his room, staring at the ceiling, he let his mind fill with thoughts.

There was a presence in the back of his mind, telling him that maybe this whole companionship was more than he realized. As he laid on the bed with hands folded, his brain wondering what it meant, he barely noticed that a person had entered the room until they spoke.

“Howdy partner. How you holdin’ up?”

Engineer was holding a tray with soup and giving Medic a warm smile. Setting the tray down on the old dresser next to his bed, the Texan turned to hear his answer.

“I could be doing vorse, I suppose.”

“We could all be doin’ worse, son. I just wanna know if you’ve been doin’ any better. ”

Medic was holding the glass of water that had come with the tray and was looking into it as he spoke, “Vell, I am better zhan I vas zhis morning. Ze medicine I took has been helping of course. Vhat else is zhere to say?”

“I’m sure your pal Heavy helped a lot with that, too.”

“What? Wiz me getting better?”

Engineer nodded, “You were plum tired, but it was pretty clear he was helpin’ a lot just by talkin’ with ya. I’m glad ya’ll have been gettin’ along.” 

“He has been nice to talk to, I vill admit zhat. But vhy are you glad?”

The Texan scratched the back of his neck, the tiniest sliver of a smile forming on his face, “It’s cause Heavy has really been needin’ the extra support. He’s had it rough ever since he joined the team.” Engineer paused for a moment, “Y’know, our last few medics before you were… how do I put this… not nice folks. A lot of em’ were downright nasty. ‘Specially to Heavy. It’s part of th’ reason why he’d been strugglin’ before you joined.”

Medic could feel growing hatred for these nameless past-medics and confusion at not knowing all of this previously, “Vhy? Vhy did zhey treat him zhat vay?”

“The fact that you care enough about him to ask is already a great improvement.” Engineer said with a grin, “Anywho, before I get off-track, they mostly treated him bad cause they relied on him a lot durin’ battles, as all medics do. I’m sure you’re already familiar with that whole strategy of ours. But the thing is, a lot of em’ weren’t fit for mercenary life, an’ they died a hell of a lot. Naturally, they’d get upset about it. It’s just unfortunate that they’d take it out on th’ first guy they saw, which was Heavy pretty often.”

“He… he nefer told me.”

Engineer shrugged, “He doesn’t like to talk about these sorta things. Heavy’s pretty good at keepin’ his emotions to himself. S’not yer fault, really. Some men just ain’t keen on bein’ open about certain things, even when they’re around their friends.”

Medic felt aching sadness for Heavy. What all had he been hiding, what sort of problems had he been suffering with alone? With nobody to lean on for comfort? Heavy had always been there for him, even throughout the few weeks they’d been friends. And yet now it felt like Medic barely knew the man at all.

“Basically, what I’m tryin’ to say is that I’m happy for you two. You’ve been havin’ a good effect on the guy, that’s for sure. I don’t think I’ve seen him this happy in… well, ever.” 

The doctor’s face lit up for what felt like the millionth time that day. He said nothing to avoid making his flustered state anymore obvious and merely nodded.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it doc. Just holler if ya need anythin’.” Once Engineer had left, Medic took to eating the soup he’d left. It was delicious, and he decided to make a mental note to ask for the recipe. 

At least Engineer was right about one thing, Medic thought. 

He really did feel better.

Translations:

Russian:
мой друг (moy drug) - My friend
Nyet - No

German:

Dummkopf - Idiot
Verpiss dich jetzt - Fuck off now

Chapter Text

Debriefings were so freaking boring.

Sitting at the table back at home base, he and the rest of the team had gathered to talk about their recent matches and the new slightly terrifying development of the BLU team now having their own ÜberCharge . It was as fun as watching paint dry or picking teeth out of a baseball bat. 

Honestly, Scout would’ve preferred to be doing anything else, but these meetings were ‘mandatory’ and ‘important’ even if most of the time they either ended in screaming matches about stupid crap, or everyone just lazing about trying to keep their eyes pried open through a 3 hour long strategy movie on their half-broken projector.

This latest meeting about their matches at Snakewater wasn’t any better. It was somehow even more boring than he'd anticipated. To make things worse, he ended up sitting next to Medic during the team’s breakdown of how the doctor’s syringes could be better applied in battle, which prompted Medic to start ranting about his own strategies in gruesome detail and it was seriously freaky how spooky the guy could get. It also reminded Scout of the time he witnessed him peel apart a Soldier with his bare hands. I mean, would you feel safe around a man who could tear someone in two out of pure rage?

So, Scout snuck away to sit next to Pyro and Soldier across the room. Hell to the no freaking way was he gonna sit next to Medic after that spiel.

What was even weirder was that the whole thing seemed connected to Heavy. Scout wasn’t one to care about his teammates, but c’mon , anyone with two brain cells to rub together could pick up that Heavy and Medic had something going on between them. They were freaky good friends, and it hadn’t even been a full month since they’d met!

Scout didn’t really care though. That was until he got the living daylights beaten out of him after doing yet another bet on them with Soldier and winning it. But hey, 20 bucks is 20 bucks, and if he can keep convincing Soldier to do another stupid bet about Heavy and Medic, then who was he to ignore that?

“Mmph!” 

Scout snapped out of his thoughts to see Pyro nudging him with their elbow. 

“What Pyro? Whaddya want?” Scout was zoning out completely on whatever the hell was happening until Pyro startled him, which made him a little annoyed.

They pointed across the table over where Heavy and Medic were sitting. They seemed very deep in conversation about something as the projector was rolling. 

After the team’s 20 minute discussion they’d brought out an old dusty RED team tape on the importance of ambush defense or something really boring. Whatever the two were talking about, though, clearly had nothing to do with the movie.

“Ugh, Pyro, I was just about to fall asleep! What d’you want?” Scout asked again, now a little more annoyed.

They indicated over at Heavy and Medic one more time, as if expecting a more interesting reaction from him.

“Pyro, seriously, sign it or whatever, I dunno what you want me to be lookin’ at or what ya want me to say about whatever the hell is goin’ on.”

Pyro made a motion similar to rolling one’s eyes, but it was hard to tell with the mask. They began signing slowly at Scout. 

“Uh… ‘they’re talkin’ ... yeah I can see that, but why should I give a crap? I’m busy bein’ bored over here!” He stretched his arms out as he leaned back in his chair like a lazy cat.

Pyro started signing a bit too fast for Scout to keep up with (he wasn’t really the best at understanding it) so he told them to slow it down. They began signing each word more slowly and making it more obvious as to what they were saying. 

‘ Look at how close they are! Isn’t it cute?’

“Pyro, I’m gonna be like, real honest with you, I’m gonna barf if you keep this up.”

They put their hands on their hips (which was a bit hard while sitting in a chair) and made a few muffled noises at him before signing again, ‘Come on, Scout, they’re sweet!’

“Oh yeah, real sweet. I can already feel a cavity comin’ on.”

‘It’s just… nice to see Heavy getting along with a medic for once… remember that one man? Robert?’ Pyro signed, taking pauses to enunciate certain words.

Scout definitely remembered ‘Robert’. Big, burly Australian guy, and a real asshat. He made it his personal mission to intimidate Heavy despite being the team’s medic at the time, which caused him to get beat up more times than Scout could count. 

Apparently, after he’d been kicked out of the position the team realized he’d only joined RED to see if America would be a fun place to brawl and wasn’t actually a doctor at all. Which, in hindsight, made a lot of sense. As far as Scout knew the guy had never seen a bandaid in his life.

‘It’s great that Heavy doesn’t have to worry about those things anymore.’

“Yeah, I guess so. Th’ big guy has had to put up with a lotta shit. And I guess it’s kinda nice seein’ him happy instead of glarin’ at me all the time.”

‘He still does that, Scout’

“Yeah but he does it less! He’s too busy makin’ goo goo eyes with his bestest friend in the whole freakin’ world right now to care, so I see it as a win. Even if Medic is probably the scariest freakin’ guy I’ve ever met in my life.”

Pyro let out a muffled sigh and shook their head, doing their best to refocus their attention on the movie that was still playing. Soldier, who was sitting next to Scout, had taken to whacking him on the head after noticing him and Pyro talking and started angrily whispering about the ‘strategic integrity’ of the film. 

Scout, now unable to talk lest he get smacked again, had started to drift off once more. If he wasn’t receiving constant stimulus he found it near impossible to stay conscious. He was only jolted from his daze after realizing he’d slipped out of his chair and everyone was getting up to leave. 

With nothing else to do, Scout decided to bug the rest of the team to prevent further boredom.

He ran to find Engineer and Pyro first, wondering if they were doing anything interesting. They usually were, even if he didn’t understand what in the world they were making in Engineer’s workshop most of the time. 

Unfortunately Medic was doing something with them too, causing Scout to turn right around and back the way he came. Nope, no way in hell was he gonna try talking with that guy. 

Demo, Soldier and Sniper all seemed to be doing something super dangerous. Scout was all for joining in until he saw that they were playing with firecrackers, and remembering what had happened to his fingers last time, he decided against it. He really wanted to avoid having all ten of his digits stitched back on for the next few hours, which would inevitably put him back into a talking-to-Medic situation.

All that was left were Heavy and Spy. Scout never knew where Spy was, and he frankly didn’t care enough about the guy to figure it out. Heavy wasn’t really all that bad even if it felt like Scout had to walk on eggshells during their conversations. All it would take would be one annoying question and he’d get swung at. But he didn’t have anyone else to talk to, so Scout sighed in defeat and trudged his way over to the armory where he’d seen Heavy last.

“Heya big guy. You makin’ out with your gun again or somethin’?”

Heavy looked up from the polishing he was doing on his minigun to give Scout a very irritated look as he walked through the door and leaned lazily against a counter.

“Little man should leave before I crush head like egg in hands. Would not want doktor to put skull back together all night.”

“H-hey listen, sorry man I wasn’t tryin’ to be mean or anything. Please don’t crush my freakin’ head.” Scout tried very hard not to sound sarcastic. 

“Then what do you want?”

“I dunno. I guess I just wanted to talk for a while.”

The bigger man stopped his polishing to give Scout a strange look, as if he wasn’t expecting a genuine answer, “Hm. What do you want to talk about?”

Oh, uh…” He honestly didn’t think he would make it this far into a conversation with Heavy. Most of the time he’d just glare at Scout in silence until he left, or make a threat to his wellbeing.

“Um. We could talk about, like, love or something?” 

“You. Want to talk about love. With me.”

“Sure, yeah whatever. Unless you got somethin’ better. ”

Heavy furrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms, a look of disbelief written on his face, “Is little Scout really that bored? Or just curious?”

“Both. Mostly just bored though. Plus, I dunno, I was also kinda wonderin’ if… you had any advice? Not that I need it or whatever, cause I’m already great with the ladies, but Engie always says it’s good to ask anyways, so...”

This really wasn’t a question Scout meant to ask.. To be completely honest, he didn’t care a whole lot about sappy stuff. But he couldn’t really turn back now. He cursed himself silently for running his mouth and hoped this conversation wouldn’t end up awkward. 

“Hm. Alright then.” Heavy pulled up a nearby chair that was somewhat intact, and Scout did the same, plopping down on one of the many bullet-ridden stools in the armory.

“Love is not easy for me to talk about. Not in romantic sense.”

“Oh, so d’you mean family love or somethin’? I already know all about that crap, though.”

“Friendship love is also something. Do not know that well, either.” Heavy admitted.

Scout’s mind went immediately into overdrive, “Really? What about friends you had as a kid? God that reminds me, there was this one kid I was real good friends with, ‘scept he thought he was faster than me in middle school, so I beat him in a race an’ then he tried to beat me up. He couldn’t ever catch up to me though.” 

“What?” 

“Sorry, sorry, got off track for a sec there. But I mean, did kids bully you in school or somethin’? Cause I totally get that.”

“Nyet. Lived in isolation or gulag for most of my younger years. Did not have many friends as adult either.” 

“I’m sorry about that big guy. That must’ve been rough.”

Heavy shrugged, “Eh. Have good friends now, and good family for whole life. Less love is better than none.”

“Still… ya really didn’t have a girlfriend or anythin’ either? Not even nowadays? You could probably go into Tuefort right now an’ get yourself a sweet-”

Heavy’s gaze hardened, “Scout.”

“What? All I’m sayin’ is, there’s a real great place you could go to that I know about, there’s plenty of women-”

Heavy frowned so hard it nearly made Scout bust out laughing. He had to slap a hand over his mouth to keep a smile from appearing.

“Little man. Have some decency. If I am to find person to call my own, it will not be in… one of those places.”

“C’mon! You should have some fun!”

“Nyet.”

Scout crossed his arms when suddenly a thought dawned on him. It could potentially irritate the rather large, terrifying man across from him, but it might be worth it to see his reaction. He’d take his chances.

“ Ohhhh… I know why you’re bein’ so hesitant. It’s cause you already got your eyes on somebody! You gotta tell me who it is! Is it someone I know in town? It better not be that cute shop owner, I already called dibs.”

The bigger man recoiled a bit at the question, “I don’t… like anyone.”

Before Scout could think of a witty reply, the two whipped around towards a corner of the room after hearing laughter. Spy uncloaked, trying his best to keep quiet before realizing he’d been caught.

“SPY! What the hell are you doin’ in here you creep!?” Scout yelled, pointing at him in anger.

“Oh please, do not stop talking on my account, gentlemen. I was merely… surprised by Heavy’s horrible lying skills.”

“What would he even be lyin’ about?” Scout retorted.

Spy scoffed as if the answer were already apparent. Heavy clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes at the man, daring him to say more. Spy ignored the threatening aura and continued, “It is clearly obvious. Our dear Heavy Weapons man is indeed in love, but not with anyone in town.”

Scout grit his teeth and puffed his chest up at Spy, trying to intimidate him, “Oh yeah? If ya know who he likes, then why don’t you say it? Huh?”

“Because it is not my place to say.”

“But-!”

Heavy had also stood up, standing over the two men and giving them both a massive death glare.

“If pathetic little men do not stop talking about me, I will smash skulls together.”

Scout backed up fast, not willing to see if Heavy was being serious about the threat this time. Spy chose to light a cigarette and give Heavy a firm look instead.

“Your secret is safe with me, my large friend. But trust me, the more you deny your feelings, the worse it will get. I’ve known enough heartbreak to understand.” 

“Is not your business Spy. Do not lecture me.” Heavy shot back.

Spy sighed, but he didn’t press further, choosing to walk out of the room and disappear down the hall leaving nothing more than the smell of cigarette smoke lingering in the air. Scout and Heavy stood in awkward silence for a few moments, not sure what to say to the other.

The uneasy energy between the two was thankfully interrupted upon hearing the familiar sound of the dinner bell. Taking the opportunity to escape the situation, Scout instantly bolted out the door, feeling pretty guilty about the whole exchange. Annoying people was one thing, but making them so blatantly uncomfortable was another. He didn’t take a whole lot of pleasure in it then.

His guilt would be replaced by hunger as he followed the good smells wafting from the kitchen. It didn’t smell like Engineer’s cooking, and Scout had enough of his dishes to know for sure what they smelled like. Intrigued by who might’ve been cooking, he pushed open the door eagerly.

To his dismay it appeared that Medic was managing dinner for the night.

“Ah, Guten Nachmittag Herr Scout! You are surprisingly late!” The doctor replied cheerfully. He was wearing an apron that said “Kiss the Surgeon!” on the front in bold letters, which was astounding to see. Scout was seriously tempted to ask him where he got it and what in the world prompted him to wear it.

“I was just uh, caught up in somethin’. Is there anythin’ left for me?”

I alyvays make enough for everyone!”

“Oh. Thanks doc. So uh…” Scout looked down at the food Medic passed over to him on a plate, “What exactly am I lookin’ at?”

“Rouladen! I vas going to make somezhing else, but I noticed ze lack of ingredients, so I just used vhat vas lying around. It came out razher vell!”

Scout didn’t know what to make of the dish. Sure, it smelled good, and it didn’t look entirely unappetizing; but Medic was the one who made it, and Scout was about 80 percent sure the guy had put a giraffe kidney or something in it somewhere. The doctor, on the other hand, was giving him a genuine smile despite the younger merc’s worries and he didn’t seem nearly as maniacal as he usually was, so Scout decided to trust him just this once. Also, he was really freakin’ hungry.

Taking one of the only open seats left, he scooched in next to Demo and began taking small testing bites of the ‘ Roo lad’ or whatever Medic said. It tasted even better than it smelled, and the texture wasn’t too bad either. The doc sure could cook!

As he scarfed down the delicious food, he barely registered the person who had chosen to sit next to him. Once he did, though, he slowed down the fast-paced eating to give the man next to him a regretful look. 

“Hey… Heavy, I’m sorry about earlier.” 

Heavy glanced at him as he ate, pausing to reply, “Sorry for conversation?”

“Yeah. It was kinda stupid of me to ask personal stuff outta nowhere like that, so I’m apologizin’ for it.”

“Apologizing is new for you. Should do it more.” 

Scout became a little exasperated and began wringing his hands, “C’mon man, I’m tryin’ here! Give me a break!”

Heavy chuckled as he took another bite of his dinner, “Am only teasing. I accept apology.”

“Good, good. An’ hey,” Scout went to a low whisper, “If Spy’s right, y’know, about your crush or whatever, I can be your wingman sometime.”

“Little man, do not make me regret accepting apology.” Heavy said in a warning voice.

“Understood big guy. But! The offer still stands!” 

Heavy just gave him a perplexed look and continued eating, suddenly stopping again to initiate conversation with Medic, who had just joined the table with his own plate. Heavy’s face lit up instantly once they started talking, pushing his food to the side to give the doctor his full attention. Heavy didn’t ever turn down food to talk to anybody as far as Scout could remember. Hell, does he ever look that happy? 

As Scout got up to leave, he looked between the two of them for a few moments. 

It couldn’t be… could it?

–

“Pyro… Pyro!”  

“Mpph?”

“Did you know? ”

Scout chased after Pyro once dinner was over, knowing that they would keep his revelation a secret. They were also the first person Scout saw once everyone got up to leave.

They signed in response, ‘Know what?’

Before he said anything else, he proceeded to push Pyro into a nearby room so nobody would overhear them. They squeezed into a broom closet, which was in fact not filled with brooms, but an unnecessary amount of half-bent swords and a marble bust statue of some bearded old dude Scout didn’t know. As they did their best to not get impaled on the swords, Scout whispered, “The thing goin’ on with Heavy an’ the doc!”

Pyro was attempting to sign, but it was so dark in the closet neither of them could see. They brought out their lighter and handed it to Scout, who flipped it on. They responded, ‘I think I already mentioned that this morning.’

“No no, I mean, it’s different! Okay, lemme explain, so earlier I was talkin’ to Heavy about love cause I was stupid an brough it up by accident-”

‘I’m surprised you’re still alive right now.’

Scout ignored them and barreled through the conversation, “-So anyways, we were talkin’ about all that mushy crap, then Spy came outta nowhere an’ said that Heavy liked somebody and he needed to admit it or whatever. I didn’t care all that much about it at first. But durin’ dinner I noticed how excited Heavy was to talk to Medic, honestly never seen the guy so happy to just talk to somebody.”

‘Scout, that’s just how friendship works. I’m all for love, but it isn’t nice to assume…’

“It’s not like I care anyways! An’ I ain’t assuming anythin’! I’ve just- I’ve never been so sure of somethin’ in my life!”

‘It seems like you might care. Maybe too much. Even if they do like each other, I think we should just let them figure it out on their own.’ Pyro signed wisely.

Scout thought about it. It would be nice to act as the wingman for once and one-up Spy at the same time, but Pyro was making a lot more sense. Maybe for once he’d keep out of it.

“Alright alright, I’ll leave it be, but only cause you said so. But don’t say anythin’ once they get married, cause I’m callin’ it here an’ now!”

Pyro shook their head and pushed the broom closet’s door open, nabbing their lighter back from Scout. A whole pile of swords came tumbling out, and the two did their best to step over it all without cutting their legs open.

‘Just try not to force anything, okay?’

“Yeah yeah, I got it. Don’t get weird about it.” 

And with that, Scout shoved the entire thing into the back of his mind. 

It wasn’t his job to worry about it, after all.

Translations:

German:
Guten Nachmittag - Good afternoon

Chapter Text

– 3 months later - October –

“We have captured the control point!”

“Finally!”

Heavy turned around to give Medic a smile. The doctor was looking completely worn out, and it was honestly no surprise. He’d been running all over the place the whole match; even more so than he usually did. It was impressive that he was still standing and working as hard as he was, and it was even more impressive that he managed to return the smile. 

“Ah, Scheisse! Heavy!”

Smelling the burning air around the both of them, Heavy looked to see the enemy Pyro closing in fast, flamethrower up and ready. He instinctively moved in front of Medic to shield him from the oncoming flames.

“Stay behind me doktor!”

Medic kept the healing beam aimed on him as Heavy was blasted with fire, which engulfed him quickly. It was hard to brace himself against the overwhelming heat, but as soon as his skin began to melt from it the healing power of the Medigun kept him from turning to ash. Ignoring the now dull pain, he revved the minigun and took the Pyro out without a second thought. As soon as that was dealt with, Heavy looked over his shoulder to see Medic fighting tooth and nail with his counterpart, who must’ve been chasing after the Pyro to heal them. They both had their syringe guns out, casting deadly looks at the other. 

The BLU Medic became distracted for a split second, whipping his head around as he heard one of his teammates call out for his help. With his guard lowered, Medic whipped out his classic bonesaw and swung it across his opponent’s midsection, splitting it clean open and spilling guts across the floor.

“Hah! Zhat is vhat you get, you buffoon!” The doctor laughed out with a twisted smile. Medic pried one of the BLU syringes out of his shoulder and tossed it to the ground once his enemy was dealt with. He then kneeled down next to the dying BLU Medic, inspecting him.

“Uh, doktor, what are you doing?”

“I am trying to see if I can harvest his organs!” Medic replied earnestly. At least he was honest.

Heavy cared a lot about his friend. And right now, he was very, very concerned for him.

“Doktor. Leave him alone.”

“Vhattt! I just vant to see if his anatomy is ze same as mine! If he really is a clone of me like I suspect, zhen I must-”

Interrupting him by putting a hand on his shoulder, Heavy said with a worried tone, “Please, now is not time.”

Speaking of, it looks like they were running out.

0:39 | 0:23

Before Medic could do anything else, the BLU Medic eventually died and returned to respawn, leaving nothing behind but a smattering of blood on the floor.

“Ugh… vhat a vaste. I cannot believe you stopped me Heavy!” He said with a disappointed scowl.

“What I cannot believe, doktor, is why you thought that was good idea.”

Before their banter could pick up again, the two noticed a small group of BLU honing in on the control point. 

“Doktor, is uber ready?”

“It isn’t quite zhere yet!- ”

“Watch out!”

Pushing Medic to the other side of the wall, Heavy took cover and braced himself to avoid the large rocket soaring over them from blasting them both to pieces. Medic still had his Medigun focused on Heavy, but the connection would soon be cut short. 

The enemy Demo, who had just entered the building, had gotten his hands on him. The doctor dropped his gun, doing everything in his power to bring out his bonesaw and strike the man choking him, but his arms began going limp from exhaustion and struggled against the iron grip around his throat.

Heavy rushed over as quick as his legs could carry him, ducking under yet another rocket, and grabbed the back of the BLU Demo’s vest before throwing him forcefully to the ground. In his shock he dropped Medic, who started wheezing and doing his best to stand up.

“Nobody touches doktor.” Heavy said with a snarl, closing in on the Demo who was struggling to back up. Grabbing the front of his collar, Heavy collided heads, knocking the other man out cold. 

Before Medic could give his thanks, the BLU Soldier and Scout had jumped down from the opening in the roof, both aiming their weapons and prepared to fire.

Heavy did his best to push himself in front of Medic, who was still on the ground and had barely gotten his Medigun back into his hands. But the BLU Scout was faster. 

Using his baseball bat, he whacked the Medigun out of the doctor’s hands, forcing it to disconnect the healing beam that had been keeping Heavy alive. The Soldier took the brief opportunity to send another one of his rockets directly at Heavy, blowing him apart. Dying near instantly, he was sent back to respawn where Medic followed soon after swearing under his breath.

“We have lost the control point!”

0:37 | 0:15

If only they had survived for those last 15 seconds.

Heavy looked at Medic with a solemn expression, “We must hurry doktor.”
Medic nodded curtly and brought out his newly-respawned Medigun. The two ran back out into battle, only stopping for a few seconds to help Sniper out. He had ended up struggling with the enemy Spy, who must’ve tried to backstab him and failed. Once the Spy caught wind of Heavy, he cloaked and disappeared out of sight and back towards the BLU base. 

“Thanks mate. Clever bastard tried sneakin’ up on me.” 

Heavy gave the Australian a friendly pat on the shoulder, “Is no problem.”

“Heavy, we must get moving!” Medic called out.

“I’ll cover you two, you just get on out there an’ give em’ hell.” Sniper brought his rifle scope back up to his eye, aiming into the battlefield with laser focus.

Medic and Heavy made their way to the control point, taking out anyone who tried to stop them. They needed to get to the point and fast; time was running out, and they couldn’t lose this last round. They wouldn’t lose.

“We have captured the control point!”

0:25 | 0:13

“We have lost the control point!”

0:20 | 0:13

“We have secured the control point!”

0:22 | 0:10

“We have lost the control point!... Would you idiots just keep the blasted point already?”

0:19 | 0:10

Engineer and Scout were fighting for their lives on the control point, doing all they could to push the BLU team back. Medic and Heavy did their best to help the situation, but without the time they needed to get the ÜberCharge up, keeping a hold on the control point would prove to be a challenge. If they could just hold out a little longer…

“We have captured the control point!”

0:10 | 0:10

The two teams were neck in neck. All they had to do now was stay on the point until overtime. Which was easier said than done, really. 

Scout went down first. A BLU Sniper got him in the shoulder, causing him to stumble before he could make it back around to the dispenser placed near the point. The enemy Pyro came in next, setting him ablaze before he could make his escape. 

Engineer went next, losing both his sentry and dispenser to the BLU Demo. Once again Medic and Heavy found themselves alone on the point, back to back, holding onto the last shreds of health before they succumbed to respawn. 5 seconds.

“5”

Medic was able to take down the Pyro with a few well-aimed syringes, causing the blue pyromaniac to drop dead.

“4”

Heavy dropped his now emptied minigun to throw some punches at an Engineer running past, sending him into the dirt with a resounding crack to the head.

“3”

Medic jammed his surgical scissors into a fallen BLU Scout, who struggled to escape his grasp.

“2”

Heavy had grabbed a stray Soldier and wrung his neck in his hands, dropping him to the floor in a heap.

“1”

“Overtime!”

As they stood, huffing and puffing and clutching their sides, they continued to maintain their positions. They still had a good 5 seconds before the overtime was over, and the rest of the BLU team were no doubt on their way. 

Unfortunately for the both of them, the BLU Spy happened to be one of them.

“Heavy! HEAVY! Look out!”

Just as he turned to look over his shoulder to see what the matter was, a switchblade had embedded itself in his neck, killing him instantly. Heavy cursed himself silently for not having taken him out earlier.

“We have lost the control point!”

Medic face-planted upon respawn, causing him to curse profusely again as he gathered himself and smashed his now-crooked glasses back onto his angry face.

“Verdammt! Ze Spy got me before I could kill him! He vill pay for zhat!”

Heavy bent down to help Medic up, handing him the fallen Medigun in the process, “We will get our revenge soon.”

“Not if we don’t get out zhere!” The doctor replied in anger.

“Overtime!”

0:00 | 0:00

By the time they had reached the control point again, nobody had managed to reclaim it. The BLU team lost control of it as soon as they hit overtime, and now the point was lost in a frustrating back-and-forth battle between the two teams. 

Medic detached himself from Heavy’s side to run around in a hurry, healing whoever he could. The other mercs were getting re-injured only a few seconds after being rehealed, and it was starting to wear the doctor down. Heavy did his best to pick off the BLU team one by one, but ended up resorting to sweeping the battlefield with his weapon, spraying the ground and building in front of him with high caliber bullets. The overtime would only last so long before-

“You've failed. Stalemate.”

Everyone took a few seconds to process what they had just heard. 

Mercs from both sides dropped their weapons to the ground, groaning and grumbling in frustration at their collective loss. Heavy had never encountered a stalemate before, not in all the months he’d worked for the RED team. It was a rare occurrence, and something he hadn’t prepared for. 

Medic looked around confusedly, his Medigun going limp in his hands once he realized nobody was in any danger. He caught Heavy’s eye and jogged over to him.

“So… vhat is a stalemate?”

Heavy shrugged as he carefully set down his minigun, “Is just word for a tie.”

“Ah, I remember zhat in ze files I vas given vhen I joined.  So vhat exactly do ve do now? Ze day is not over yet, und ve hafe no ozher matches scheduled.” 

“I do not know. Have never been in stalemate before. They do not happen often.”

With nothing else to do, the mercs began collecting their weapons to take back to the respawn room. They had no reason to fight, seeing as they weren’t being paid to use them now. 

Once everyone had set down their respective weapons, they all stopped to see Pyro running into view from behind one of the RED base sheds and carrying what looked to be two small pumpkins in their arms. 

“Mppph! Mmp!”

They ran up excitedly to Engineer, who had just set down his toolboxes and equipment to see what the matter was.

“Whatcha’ got there firebug?”

Pyro held up the pumpkins to show him and began speaking in a delighted muffled manner.

Engineer scratched his chin, “Huh. Well, that’s certainly an idea.” 

Scout, who was still holding his bloody bat in his hands, walked over to see what the two were doing with curiosity, “What? What’s the matter? Are we headin’ back to the respawn?”

“Pyro here thinks we should put these pumpkins they found to good use. Apparently we got a whole bunch of em’ near that shed.” 

“Use em’? How? Ohh, y’know, we should make those pumpkin catapults you made last halloween!” Scout said excitedly.

Engineer shook his head with an amused little grin on his face, “No, Scout, we can’t be doin’ that. No weapons durin’ a stalemate, remember?.”

The younger merc groaned in disappointment, “Then what the hell are we gonna do with em’?”

Engineer turned to see what Pyro’s response was, then looked back at Scout with a bemused smile, “They’re suggestin’ we hold a lil’ pumpkin carvin’ contest with the BLU team. So long as we don’t end up chuckin’ carving tools at anybody, I wager we can have ourselves a little friendly competition with em’.”

The rest of the team had a mixture of perplexion, confusion, and amusement on their faces. Demo and Sniper seemed pretty happy with the idea, and even Spy was tolerant enough to raise a hand in participation. What else were they to do with the rest of their day?

“Now fellas, I have a few tools we can use, but they ain’t exactly for carvin’. So, I’m gonna hafta ask you all to treat em’ real careful, or else I’m gonna hafta take em’ from you. I get a limited amount of this stuff every month, and my recent order of screwdrivers just came in, an’ I’d like to avoid havin’ to call for more replacements.”

Handing several other oddly-shaped tools around, everyone took what they thought would give the most interesting pumpkin carving results. Scout took a small hand saw, proclaiming that the sharp teeth would give the fastest carving time. He was already determined to finish the quickest out of all of them. Pyro had begun to reach for a welding tool before Sniper smacked their hand away and gave them a bradawl instead, then reached over and grabbed a few screwdrivers for himself.

Soldier had brought out his trusty shovel and Demo had to convince him out of using it for 5 minutes while everyone rummaged around in Engineer’s toolboxes, saying that he’d probably end up destroying the entire pumpkin before he ever got the chance to carve it. The two resorted to sharing a hammer (which really wasn’t any better than a shovel) and an old screwdriver.

Spy took to using a borrowed pocket knife. He wasn’t willing to sacrifice his own precious switchblade for pumpkin carving, so he decided to go with something more designed for wear and tear. 

Medic and Heavy decided to collaborate, neither of them having very much pumpkin carving knowledge. The doctor wagered that he could carve well enough anyway, what with the many years of experience he had cutting open and dissecting people. ‘It can’t be all that different!’ He said with an eager smile as he picked up an evil-looking pair of tongs and a coping saw.

Engineer decided to make himself both the judge and the ‘overseer’ of the competition, mostly just to make sure nobody messed up his equipment. 

His fears were confirmed pretty quick, as Scout had already managed to accidentally jam his saw into a nearby wall and got it lodged in-between the wooden boards. Heavy attempted to wrench it out of the wall for him, but he ended up taking off the entire handle and leaving the blade stuck there. Everyone burst out laughing at the sight of it, and Engineer handed Scout another saw before taking him over to the side to lecture him about proper saw-managing.

Once the team had everything they needed, they began setting up various tables (ones that were still useable) in two separate rows. There were about five or six of them lined up on each side, with some of them needing to be propped up or tape haphazardly wrapped around broken table legs. The BLU team, who were still nearby and milling about with nothing else to do, gathered to see what the RED team was doing with curiosity. 

Engineer took the opportunity to cautiously walk over to them and ask them if they wanted to join in and compete. They all seemed pretty excited at the chance to have another go at the RED team, and they began collecting their own carving tools and settling themselves down around their own row of tables. It was amusing watching grown battle-worn mercenaries getting into competitive pumpkin carving.

Heavy had to admit it was a little strange being so close to the BLU team and not having to fight for his life just for being near them. It allowed him to get a better look at them, noticing the little differences between them and their RED counterparts. They all wore their own individual unique clothing to differentiate themselves, desperate for originality.

It made Heavy wonder if they really were clones like Medic had suggested. It would make a lot of sense, but thinking about it left him with a very weird feeling. Putting the strange implications of the whole situation out of his mind, he turned to his partner to discuss what they should carve.

“Doktor, what is plan?”

Medic was engrossed in his examination of the pumpkin he was given and paid Heavy no mind as he muttered to himself, inspecting it all over.

“Hm… I vonder if I vill get disqualified if I implanted a brain into zhis…”

Alarmed by what he said, Heavy patted the doctor’s shoulder to bring him back to the present. Medic jumped a bit in surprise.

“Sorry, Heavy. Vhat vere you saying?”

“You are not thinking about doing that… are you?”

“Vhat? Oh, did I say zhat all out loud? Mein apologies.”

Heavy gave the man beside him such a worried look that it even made Medic himself concerned, “Haha, I vas just kidding! I swear!” The bigger man looked disbelieving but decided not to press the matter, knowing that trying to convince him to not put a brain inside of a pumpkin would be futile. All he could really do was physically prevent the doctor from doing it, if he absolutely had to.

“Let us just focus on carving. What should we make before start? Any ideas?” Heavy asked, anxious to switch the topic.

Medic thought for a few moments, a concentrated expression on his face, “I zhink ve should make somezhing zhat represents ze both of us. Ve are going to be vorking on zhis togezher, after all.”

“Like… animals?” Heavy couldn’t think of much else, so he thought that animals would be interesting enough to carve. 

“Ooo, now zhat is an idea! Now, vhat animals should ve do?”

Heavy knew what animal he would choose for himself. Ever since he was young, his family often referred to him as a “big cuddly bear”, both due to his size and strength and his general protective behavior. It was something he was actually quite proud of. Nothing could match his vigilance and the care he had for those close to him. 

“I think I will do a bear. Will you do doves?”

The doctor broke out into a playful smile, “Ja, ja! An excellent suggestion, mein freund! Zhis shall be perfect!” 

– 3 hours later –

By the end, everyone was wiped out after working so frantically on their pumpkins. Sure, while it was made out to be a ‘friendly’ competition, it didn’t stop the RED and BLU teams from going all out with their carving and doing their absolute best to go above and beyond. The determination to win was still there, even if no violence was involved.

Scout was, as always, the first to finish. He attempted to make a perfect sculpture of Tom Jones's face by memory, but after nearly a half hour of failed attempt after failed attempt and going through several pumpkins, he eventually gave up and sat next to Engineer the rest of the time and did his best to ignore the BLU Scout’s taunting.

Sniper worked beside Pyro, and he ended up making a surprisingly normal and decent jack-o-lantern. Pyro’s was much more intricately designed, with the entire surface being covered in carvings of various magical creatures that they adored. 

Spy tucked away the tool that he was encouraged to pick up and chose to watch other’s work from afar. When Demo turned around to ask him where his pumpkin went, Spy went quiet and ignored the question, which led everyone to believe that his attempt was so bad he couldn’t admit it to anyone. 

Demo and Soldier’s pumpkin became a huge gorey mess when they were done with it. They did their best to convince Engineer into giving them another, but when he noticed how destroyed the tools they were given ended up being he forced them to sit out the rest of the time.

Aside from Sniper and Pyro, Heavy and Medic had managed to create a reasonably good carved pumpkin. Their combined design of a bear with small doves decorating its exterior shape proved to be a great choice, giving the overall look of what they made an elegant touch. Medic certainly hadn’t been lying when he said he was good with carving; Heavy had watched him work with fascination, not at just his skill and precision, but by how quickly he’d carved everything. It took him a little under an hour and a half to complete the whole thing. 

Once the BLU team had finished with their own pumpkins, it was up to both team’s Engineer’s to decide the final vote. They were both selected due to their unbiased natures. After much hushed discussion between the two, along with a few more walks around the tables and the various creations laid upon them, they’d come to a conclusion;

The BLU team had won. 

“WHAT?!”

Soldier was the most outspoken about the final verdict and had to be wrangled by Demo to prevent him from strangling the BLU Medic, who was visibly terrified and standing near the table across from him. 

Engineer put his hands up in defeat, “That’s it ya’ll. The BLU team won fair an’ square.”

“How is this possible! We are superior! We should have WON!” Soldier yelled in anger, shaking his fist in the air. Demo merely grunted, still doing his best to keep his arms wrapped around Soldier’s midsection so he wouldn’t end up pummeling anyone near him.

“Well, they managed to keep all of their pumpkins intact for starters. An’ I dunno if ya noticed, but most of ours ended up gettin’ destroyed, or didn’t… turn out so well.” Engineer cast a brief glance at Spy and Scout, who scowled at him in return, “Course’, I ain’t namin’ names.”

The BLU team cheered a bit, enjoying and complimenting each other’s works. Once the BLU Medic had gotten over his fear of Soldier for a short time, he even walked over to his counterpart and gave a nice remark about his carving work, even if their was a twinge of fear in his voice. Medic was taken aback and eyed him warily, but accepted the praise with a curt nod. 

Once the BLU Medic went back to his own table, Medic turned to whisper at Heavy, covering his face with his hand as he spoke into his ear, “... I still zhink I should harvest his organs.”

“Please don’t, doktor.”

Medic gave a big dramatic sigh as he picked up their pumpkin to give to Engineer, who asked those who still had some to hand them over. They were going to be saved come Halloween, and he wanted to preserve them. 

Finally, the transport truck had arrived once Miss Pauling got notified of the stalemate. She was huffing and puffing when the team greeted her in the respawn room, her hair a mess and her glasses skewed sideways. She apparently had to out-drive a pack of wild dogs on the way to Harvest, which explained her delay.

“Pack of… wild dogs?” Heavy had asked as they made their way over to the beaten-up bus. He and the rest of the team could certainly tell she was being chased by something, but with how huge the bite marks on the back of the vehicle were, everyone seriously doubted that they were just ‘dogs’.

“Ah… well, we don’t exactly have a good name for them. Demon dogs? Anyways, it isn’t a big deal. We have them all over this area, but there aren’t many near the Badlands.” Miss Pauling said rather nonchalantly as she herded everyone onto the bus, her characteristic clipboard in one hand.

Well… it certainly wasn’t the strangest thing Heavy had seen thus far. One of his strangest experiences had to be when he, Soldier and Scout came across a shiny futuristic store in the middle of the Dustbowl after a tough battle months ago. They sold new-fangled weapons and devices unlike anything he’d seen before.

 Heavy was also pretty sure the moon got blown up while he was there, but the more he thought about it the more he wondered if it was all a weird dream he’d had thanks to the concussion he’d sustained.

It was certainly not the oddest story he’d been told either.

“So, are those demon dogs comin’ back? How come we ain’t seen em’ before? Are we gonna hafta kick their stupid dog behinds or somethin’?” 

“No, Scout, that’s okay. I dealt with them.” She replied with a curt smile, “-And to be completely honest, they’re a bit of a new development we’ve had out here. It’s no big deal, just a Mann Co. business opportunity gone sour.” Miss Pauling paused while she turned the vehicle on, with the rest of the team piling into the bus and into their usual seats, “... then again, I did advise Mr. Hale not to put a puppy pound near a radioactive power plant.” 

“Radioactive, you say?” Medic asked innocently. Heavy put a hand on his shoulder to prevent him from venturing down a dangerous path, “Doktor. Do not try anything weird.”

“Vhat! I vould nefer! Haha!” 

“What will I do with you, мой друг?” Heavy said with an amused smile. Medic’s maniacal expression softened and a humorous grin formed in its place.

“It vouldn’t hurt to indulge in me a little bit.”

“I already do doktor! You do many surgeries on me, I fear my body will fall apart!”

“Oh please, I vould nefer let zhat happen. All mein surgeries are meant to enhance vhat is already zhere! You are already perfect, but zhere is alyvays room for improvement.”

Heavy’s smile grew as he gave Medic a playful nudge, “You think I am perfect? That is nice thing to say.”

“I only say it because it is true!” 

Scout made retching noises as he sat across from the two, pretending to gag as if sickened by the sight of them. Sniper, who was sitting next to him and trying to read a magazine he found underneath his seat, gave him a hard shove to the shoulder to get him to knock it off. 

“If you hafe somezhing to say Herr Scout, zhen say it.” Medic said with a warning tone. He’d seen Scout’s drama and was irritated by his interruption. 

The younger merc ignored him and took to sticking his face into whatever it was Sniper was reading. Surprisingly, he didn’t mind, and he gave Medic and Heavy a sorry look as if apologizing for Scout’s behavior. 

The rest of the ride went by smoothly, and thankfully only one pack of radioactive Mann Co. patented demon dogs attempted to tear the transport bus in half. With much swerving, frightened screaming and swearing from Scout, and prying a terrified Pyro off of one of the seats after ramming the animals into a cliffside, everyone had managed to make it back to home base no worse for wear. 

Translations:

German:

Scheisse - Shit
Verdammt - Damn it

Chapter Text

– 1968 - April –

He’d been running for hours. 

Or maybe it just felt like hours. The burning in his lungs and aching in his legs sure made it feel that way. But his unbridled, unrestrained giddiness at his own success and the need to escape compelled him forward through the urban wilderness, into the train station, and away, away, away, from his hometown of Rottenburg forever. 

Would he miss his family? Not in a million years. 

His wife? Only as much as he would a friend.

Coworkers? Companions? He only had his doves, and he’d made sure to send them off ahead of him before he did anything. 

What about fears of the war? Of being found by the soldiers who frequented the streets? Well, that certainly was something to be concerned about. But it wasn’t at the forefront of his mind anymore. His only desire now was to escape Germany to… anywhere else, really.

They wouldn’t ever understand the skill he possessed, anyways, he thought, as he clutched his tiny leather suitcase that contained the only worldly belongings he could gather; his bonesaw, a couple samples of his newly invented healing fluid, and a single paper declaring his termination as a surgeon and doctor that he’d received a day prior to the surgery. 

But none of the operating room nurses knew that. And they didn’t need to.

Now Stuttgart, Rottenburg, and the surrounding towns would be on high alert for the now estranged ‘Dr. Ludwig’, the newspapers and radios already buzzing with the horrified news of the mad doctor who’d removed another man’s skeleton, somehow keeping him alive in the process. Some were almost impressed by the feat, but not before becoming disgusted at the realization that the person in question was not only conscious and awake by now, but would probably have to live the rest of his probably short life as a boneless meat sack. 

As he deserved.

When he’d finally managed to locate where he’d put his doves, entrusting them to a coworker before the news broke out, he half-ran, half-carried them under his arms and fled to the train once more. The late night turned into a dewy morning, but he slept not a wink. There were cabs to catch, hidden sidewalks to be crossed, boats to be taken. 

He had no destination, and as the whole of Germany kept a watchful eye it was only a matter of time before Ludwig was caught. 

And eventually, he was.

3 months later the police had managed to track him down to a small town in the middle of nowhere. He had run out of money and was unable to catch a bus, so there he was, doing his best to make himself as small and unseen as possible within the second story bedroom closet of a rental home he’d managed to secure before his emergency savings had run dry.

The elderly couple who owned the building were on vacation, but before they left they allowed Ludwig to stay there and had believed his fake sob story of losing his entire family to an imaginary illness known as ‘Stupiditis’. It was no fault of the couple, really. He just needed a place to hide; even if that place was an old dresser closet filled with frilly lace dresses and unbearably noisy, squeaky shoes. 

The police had eventually barged right into the bedroom, the door flinging open and slamming into the wall with great force. Ludwig could practically feel his heart stop in his chest as he felt their presence right outside his hiding place, their hands inching slowly towards the doorknob to reveal him crouched there, sitting among all those skirts and gowns. 

Something stopped them from doing so, after hearing a cold woman’s voice ordering them to back down. Many minutes passed before he let himself breathe again once he realized they were gone. 

He inched the door to the closet open slowly, peering out and nearly jumping back inside once he saw a stern older woman staring him down. 

“Dr. Ludwig, I presume?”

She was wearing a police uniform, but it didn’t seem like she was of any rank. Ludwig paid no mind to committing her details to memory and tried to escape, tumbling out of the dresser and springing towards the door, which was unfortunately locked. He stopped his frantic movements after hearing a familiar click and the cold metal of a gun pressed to his temple. 

“I must inform you, Dr. Ludwig, that if you try to escape, you will leave this house in a body bag. But it doesn’t have to be that way.”

Ludwig side-eyed the revolver that was currently aimed at his head, steeling himself for what would probably be a very, very risky conversation. Whatever this woman had in mind, there was no way it could be anything good. But he didn’t have any choice. 

“Vhat are you proposing?” He asked, doing his best to remain calm and composed.

Her face didn’t change from its stony expression, but a glint in her eyes made it clear what she wanted, “I want you to work for me. For Mann Co. As a mercenary.”

“But I am not a fighter, Miss?...”

“Just call me The Administrator. You don’t need to concern yourself with my name.” The woman paused for a minute to bring out some of the papers she was holding in a folder, looking through its contents before she spoke again, “Whether or not you’re a fighter doesn’t matter to me, Dr. Ludwig. What I need are your skills in medicine. I’ve heard rumors of your work, and what you’re capable of. The news I’ve heard floating around of your latest experimentation intrigued me, in short.”

“Und you vant me to be a mercenary for you? Vhat exactly do I get in return?”

“Well, besides letting you live, I have a contract written up that I think will intrigue you.”

She pulled a large form from a folder she had in her other hand, lowering the gun for a moment to hand him the paper.

“I will provide you with safety, a place of residence, money, and of course a clearance of your name and any wrongdoings along with a green card to America. As long as you do what I ask of you, we will have no further issues.” 

As he stared down at the fine-print on the page, his mind started working through his options. He’d heard good things about America, mainly in-regards to new work opportunities, and the promise of a new career in experimentation without fear of his past life catching up to him was all too promising. And to be honest, he would very much like to live. 

Once he’d determined there was no trickery afoot with the document (besides some rather worrying things about Mann Co. not being liable for permanent loss of any and all limbs under the contract and other various things about dying painfully) he signed the dotted line at the bottom, giving away the next 5 years of his life to a woman he didn’t know and a company he’d never heard of, going to a place he’d only seen in postcards. It was all rather exciting.

With that, he took the next boat across the Atlantic, planning his trip to New Mexico along the way and preparing himself for what would hopefully be the strangest and most exhilarating times of his life. No longer would he be held back by the limitations of modern medical ethics. 

The boat trip would be a few days, and in that time The Administrator and her unnamed assistant sent information to him, both about his contract and the additional benefits that came along with it. There wasn’t much else, though, as they chose to remain frustratingly secretive about the company or who he’d even be hired to fight or heal. All he knew was that he would be working alongside eight other mercenaries and that his main priority would be keeping all of them alive long enough to win whatever war it was they were fighting. Not much else was said, and he was told to keep his mouth shut until he arrived on the distant shores of the United States.

‘ Oh well’ was pretty much all Ludwig could think upon hearing that. He wasn’t going to risk this deal by telling any of the other passengers what he was up to, whom he’d decided he had all hated. He already knew there wasn’t any point in snooping either.

A day before his arrival, he’d realize his hatred wasn’t unfounded. 

Ludwig was leaning over one of the sides of the boat, peering out across the endless expanse of the ocean. He was scanning the horizon, looking for any side of land, hoping the trip would be over quickly. His doves were getting more and more restless by the day, and to be completely honest, he felt the same. Ludwig’s hands were itching to do a little experimenting, and it had been far too long since he’d had the opportunity for some exploratory surgery. 

As he looked over the neverending blue sea, he heard someone stomping loudly over to him. Ludwig looked over to see a rather large, livid and somewhat familiar man running over to him, his face full of rage. 

“YOU!” The man pointed at him angrily and then moved to pin Ludwig against the rail so he couldn’t escape, screaming in rage,  You’re that sick fuck that shoved a whale pancreas in my chest!” Unfortunately for him, Dr. Ludwig was a practiced escape artist, and managed to quickly slip away before the man could fully get his hands on him and into the small crowd that always mingled on deck. 

“WHERE DID THAT- WHERE THE HELL DID YOU SCURRY OFF TO, YOU RAT BASTARD!”

Everyone turned to look towards the source of the yelling, which prompted Ludwig to keep shoving through the crowd and hopefully back towards his room where he could hide away. Something deep within him almost compelled him to stay out in the open, itching for a fight. He’d been running for so long, and frankly he was sick of it. But he knew if he got his hands on the man currently pursuing him, he’d get tossed right off the boat by the security that patrolled it. Whatever violence he desired would have to wait. 

His maddened ex-patient kept looking for him, intent on wringing Ludwig’s neck. Just as he managed to reach for one of the doors that led deeper into the boat, the man caught sight of him and shoved more frantically, earning some swearing and rude remarks from bystanders as he moved them forcefully out of the way like an angry bull. 

Ludwig flung open the door and sped down the flight of stairs in front of him, skirting around people who were trying to climb them. With each corridor he turned into, every door he opened, he could hear his hunter hot on his trail. At this rate he’d tire out and trip over a doorframe or something stupid like that, and end up flat on his back and beaten senseless. But he was faster than his opponent, and had just a bit more stamina to keep him going. 

Still, it appeared that his pursuer had some strategy as he managed to corner Ludwig after ten or so minutes of running around winding hallways and stairs. 

“God… finally. I finally got you. And you’re gonna fucking pay for what you did to me.” He wheezed out, clutching his side. Now that Ludwig had been forced into a smaller space, the man looming over him seemed much bigger than before. 

“Wizout me, you vould hafe been dead! If anyzhing you should be grateful I even used zhat pancreas on you at all!” Ludwig spat back. He wasn’t about to let the man threatening him downplay his achievements. 

“It doesn’t fucking matter . I was there for a goddamned check-up, not a fucking surgery!”

“Trust me, you needed it. You even agreed to ze surgery, if you stopped to zhink for once und remember!”

That earned a hefty blow to the face and a knocked out tooth, resulting in a good amount of blood pouring from his nose and mouth. It only took only one punch for him to see stars. It was also just enough to make him see red. 

Sure, the man was larger than him. But he’d dealt with worse. 

Ludwig pulled out a small syringe he always kept on him from one of his pockets, holding it in a defensive manner. He wiped the hot blood pouring from his nose away with the back of his hand, smearing the side of his face with thick red. His opponent looked warily at the knife, but steeled himself and raised his fists. 

Ludwig wasn’t a fighter by any means, but he always knew where those important vital points were. The neck, the eyes, ears, nose, groin. Important arteries and soft tissue, sensitive joints and bundles of nerves. They visualized in his mind as he poised himself to strike, his deadly syringe now pointing towards the carotid artery, ready to puncture it if need be. Maybe he’d only strike near it, to avoid killing the man. He wouldn’t know how to explain away hiding a man’s body to security.

Thankfully, it looked like he wouldn’t have to.

Because just as the two men were about to lunge at the other, a loud roar came from the hallway to their left, and the situation barely registered in his mind as he dived to get out of the way of a large, furry beast tearing into his attacker. 

“NO PRINCESS! PUT HIM DOWN!” A small voice cried out. Ludwig turned to see where it came from and was shocked to see a little girl, tugging desperately at a huge terrifying bear in a pink tutu. ‘Princess’ was currently devouring his pursuer whole, wasting no time in getting the man’s entire head in its mouth. The doctor sat unmoving and unable to fully comprehend what he was seeing. 

The bear eventually stopped its rampage, but only until the man it was attacking was nothing more than a pile of torn-apart red mush. The girl stood, exasperated, and scolding the beast. A few moments later she was accompanied by two other girls, which made Ludwig notice how they all seemed to be dressed as… Girl Scouts? 

They then looked over to see Ludwig, still sat on the floor and in a state of pure bewilderment. 

“Um… are you okay sir?” The tallest girl questioned. 

“I am fine. But- vhat-  vhy in ze vorld is zhere a bear on ze ship?”

“Oh gosh, we’re so sorry about Princess. Usually she’s super well behaved!”

“Yeah!”

That… didn’t really answer his question.

“Nein, it is fine. Ze man ‘Princess’ just ate vas not a good one. But how is zhere a bear here? Und vhere are your parents? Vhat is going on?” Ludwig asked again with a little more urgency. He really didn’t like the way the bear was looking at him as it licked its bloody maw. 

“Oh! We’re just guardians to Princess. We’re trying to get her back to New Mexico from her trip to Europe on Mr. Hale’s orders… he said it’s out first real mission as Saxtonettes! We were hoping she wouldn’t hurt anyone else, but it hasn’t been going well…” The smallest of the girls said sadly. She was looking at Princess with a disapproving look on her face, but the bear paid her no mind.

The doctor was starting to get a little frustrated by the lack of clarification. But something she said peaked his interest; they were heading to New Mexico under the orders of someone called ‘Mr. Hale’. The name was incredibly familiar, and there was no way the location could be a coincidence. Picking himself off the floor, Ludwig stood and regained a bit of composure before asking one more question, “Hale? I believe I may be vorking under him. Do you all vork for… Mann Co.?” It might’ve been a long shot to ask, but he wanted to know more about his employers, and this might be the only way he could. 

To his luck, the three girls lit up and nodded their heads, “Oh yeah! We’re part of his Saxonette program under Mann. Co! Do you work for Mr. Hale too?” The girl in the middle asked in an excited voice. 

“I believe I do. But I, ah, do not hafe much information about him yet. Could you perhaps tell me a bit more about him and Mann. Co?”

For the next half hour the three girls talked his ear off about the grand stories of Saxton Hale, Mann. Co, and other assorted tales about the endless blood feud between two men known as Blutarch and Redmond, who were also apparently part of the whole thing and the reason behind the war in the first place. Ludwig thought his head would start spinning the more they talked, but at least he got some answers. It also made him realize why The Administrator told him so little in the first place; apparently, the war was being fought over… gravel. Gravel, and desert land that served no purpose. 

He could see why The Administrator would want to withhold that sort of information from new hires. Not that there was much choice behind the contract he was given. But hey, now he had a new job, with new opportunities and decent pay. Even if the war ended up ruining him, he’d have a chance to invent new-fangled healing technology like he’d always dreamed of doing. 

Once the girls were finally done with their rambling, they waved Ludwig goodbye as they tugged Princess along begrudgingly, presumably back to wherever the bear’s holding area was. Hopefully when he made it to New Mexico, he wouldn’t have another violent run-in with the animal again. The doctor made his way back to his room, being careful not to interact with anyone he saw. He wasn’t about to risk another potential ex-patient punching his face in.

Ludwig released his doves from their cage for a short time as he healed his tooth and nose. He decided to drink the healing solution he had this time rather than apply it to the small cuts and scrapes he’d get, and sure enough it replaced the missing tooth quickly, which he felt over with his tongue. His nose snapped back into a more reasonable angle, and he touched it tenderly with his fingers. Good as new. 

“I hope I vill be able to create some more of ze healing fluids vhen I travel, Archimedes…” Ludwig said absentmindedly to his bird, who was perched on his head. Night had fallen as he locked himself in his room, not risking leaving and being caught by someone who saw his previous altercations that morning. No doubt people would try asking what happened to the man fighting him.
Now, he was reading over some blueprints for an invention he had thought up in a dream. It was like a strange premonition, as he woke up in a cold sweat several nights prior with the schematic standing out vividly in his mind. It was meant to be a device that would utilize the healing fluid he’d made, speeding up healing more than the fluid could when it was just by itself. He hadn’t given the invention a name yet, much less had an idea of how to build it besides the basics. Ludiwg sincerely hoped that whoever he’d be working with would be able to help bring it to life. 

Archimedes cooed at him and looked down at the papers he was holding curiously. The doctor put away the rough blueprints and brought out a schedule in exchange, which was filled with times and locations for bus stops and train routes provided to him by his employers. Around each time he wrote in small little notes and details about what he’d do during each trip, making sure to maximize the time spent traveling and use it for his experiments. It would be rough work, attempting to do difficult inventing while moving from place to place, but he was given private cabs and vehicles all to himself by The Administrator and her assistant as a security measure. So, he would make use of it in the best way possible.

Once Ludwig was satisfied with his plan, he flopped onto the bed in his room, utterly exhausted by the day’s events. His doves crowded around the head of his bed and on various shelves nearby, cooing sleepily and roosting. Archimedes chose to join his owner on the bed, resting in Ludwig’s hands and making happy little noises. The doctor was eternally grateful that The Administrator had been gracious enough to allow him to have his pets to accompany him to New Mexico, even paying extra just to grant them access on the boat. It was probably just her way of sweetening the deal, but he’d take it either way.

“Hopefully zhis job vill not be somezhing I regret. I do not know if ze ozher mercenaries vill be suitable to vork wiz eizher. But I vill not know until I try, ja?” The doctor said aloud to nobody in particular. Despite the excitement he felt, there was still an undercurrent of worry. Archimedes nuzzled his hand and flew over to the small window at the back of the room to sleep. 

“Ah, a gut idea mein Täubchen. Ve must all get our rest. Ve hafe a long veek ahead of us…” Ludwig yawned, curling up in bed and closing his eyes. Before long, he fell into a surprisingly calm sleep despite the rather hectic events of the day. He would need the rest.

—

The next morning, the ship made land, and Ludwig stepped off the boat carrying nothing more than the blueprints in his suitcase under one arm and his birdcage in the other. He was greeted by the towering skyscrapers of New York as he walked around the harbor, in awe of the size of the city. He also wasn’t expecting the smell, causing him to wrinkle his nose as he sped towards the nearest train station. 

The beginning of his new life had finally begun. It was almost poetic how his life ended and began all in the span of a few months. Who knew what the mercenary life would have in store for him? What grand inventions he’d create? What revelations he’d have? 

On the other hand, he didn’t care much for the talk of ‘helping his fellow mercenaries’. They, in his mind, would probably prove more beneficial to him in the form of experimentation if the talk regarding the “respawn system” was anything to go off of. In all honesty, they’d probably just end up being a pain.

In some ways, he was right.

In others, well… he’d just have to find out for himself.

Chapter Text

– The week of Halloween –

The RED and BLU team were both granted a week long break, and were each given their own “residential homes” to get away from their bases, relax, and spend the nights out in Teufort before they were inevitably run out by the lead-poisoned townsfolk. 

The real reason behind the decision, however ,was because the RED and BLU bases had sustained a mysterious chemical spill and gas leak at the same time, and both teams needed to be shepherded out until the issue was resolved.

To prevent any questions about it Saxton Hale announced a whole mini-vacation via marketing pamphlets not too long before Halloween began, due to it being a rather huge event in the Badlands and him seeing it as another way for him to squeeze a bit more money out of the mercenaries while they had the time off. Which isn’t entirely unexpected for the burly Australian businessman.

Heavy didn’t fully understand the traditions surrounding the holiday, but he knew that his first Halloween with the team would certainly be an interesting one (as any activity with them typically was).

Medic, on the other hand, had been celebrating Oktoberfest throughout September and October in his own ways, and was slightly forlorn once the personal celebrations had ended. Once he was told that Halloween was around the corner he became incredibly cheery again and was ecstatic when he saw Heavy and Demo putting up paper mache skeletons and assorted spooky decor around their residential vacation building. It was truly endearing seeing the doctor so excited.

This caused the doctor to promptly get to work on making his own scary decorations for the occasion. Heavy even helped him make a few of his own, and they were both rather proud of the results after seeing Sniper and Soldier get scared right out of their skins opening the kitchen doors to reveal a fake murder scene, featuring Medic pretending to be a zombie devouring Heavy right there on the floor, complete with realistic organs and blood. Okay, maybe they were more than just ‘realistic’, but Heavy didn’t like to imagine that Medic had dug around in his organ freezer and blood bank for a simple prank.

Now it was only a few days before Halloween. Unfortunately, most of the mercs had trouble finding good costumes to wear, which caused Engineer to order Heavy and Scout to go out and buy some.
Spy, Heavy, Medic, and Scout were the few that either hadn’t figured out a costume yet, or simply didn’t want to wear one. Spy was not at all keen on being forced into a costume, but Engineer managed to convince him to at least dress up a little bit, so he requested that Heavy fetch him a black suit to replace his maroon one and trusting that he’d bring it back in one piece. Spy even brought Heavy to the side at one point to whisper threateningly that if Scout or anything happened to the suit, there would be hell to pay. The bigger man wasn’t about to argue and agreed, promising to bring it back without even a scratch, mark, burn, or single hint of lint, as requested.

Scout, on the other hand, was just indecisive and always spent a remarkable amount of time making decisions, so he decided to tag along with Heavy to see if a costume would catch his eye.

Before he and Scout departed, Heavy decided to make his way over to Medic’s makeshift medbay area that he’d made for himself, seeing as the rented house they had to stay in hadn’t come with one much to the doctor’s dismay. Still, Heavy was curious about what kind of outfit Medic had in mind, and wanted to see what his friend would want for a costume. 

When he knocked on the door he was greeted with an interesting sight; the large room, which was a bit messy from all the assorted jars and other equipment lining the walls and tables, was also very well decorated with all sorts of Halloween decorations. Medic must’ve spent a good amount of time with it seeing how strategically placed the assorted cobwebs and pumpkins were, as if he spent hours just making sure everything was aligned exactly how he wanted. Knowing him, Heavy didn’t doubt it.

What was even more interesting was how when Medic came walking up to him from the other side of the room, he was already wearing a very well made outfit. He was dressed as his own rendition of Count Dracula, complete with sharp fangs and a flared red collar around his neck. He still wore his signature white coat, but it had been modified with all sorts of sewings and stitches to add more red and gold to create a regal appearance. He had a big toothy smile appear as soon as he saw Heavy walk in the door, even more toothy than usual thanks to the fangs. 

“Heavy! Just ze man I vanted to see!”

“I see doktor already has costume! This is good, won’t have to get more.”

“Indeed mein freund. I come prepared for zhese zhings, especially for an occasion such as zis!” He finished the sentence with a little flourish of the long red and white cape he wore, flashing a snarky grin.

Heavy smiled back, “This I believe. But what do you want to see me for?”

“Ah, vell, I vas just curious about somezhing…” Medic said mysteriously, moving to retrieve something from a closet nearby. He then brought out a large gaudy tuxedo and what looked like red paint of some kind, bringing them over to Heavy, “I vanted to know if you vould like to match wiz me? You can pretend to be my victim! I vill paint little bite marks on your neck, und ve can match! Vhat do you zhink?”

“Абсолютно, doktor! I vould love to match with you!” 

“Excellent! Ve shall hafe ze best costumes, nobody else vill compare!” 

Heavy smiled and nodded, basking in his friend’s pure happiness over wearing matching outfits. He had to admit, it was nice seeing Medic really enjoying himself for once rather than hunched over his work or stressing over battle strategies late into the night. It was great to have such a nice long break for once and being able to cut loose, so to speak.

After several minutes of preparation and Heavy begrudgingly letting Medic put two little red marks on his neck, he waved him goodbye as he left the infirmary, trying his best to get accustomed to the stiff suit. Why the costume had to be a suit Heavy didn’t know, but it was kind of nice to wear something different for once. 

“What th’ hell are you supposed to be big guy? A groom with chicken pox on his neck or somethin’?”

Heavy grumbled at Scout as the two climbed into the RED team’s undercover bread truck. It was the only vehicle they were allowed to use when they rode into town, as a way to provide them some cover. It was baffling how many times they’ve had to stave off bakeries from hiring them because of it.

“I am matching with doktor. You will see.”

Scout drummed his fingers absentmindedly on the wheel as he started up the vehicle, “You’re matchin’? That’s kinda-” Heavy shot the young merc a deadly glare, daring him to say something rude, “-cool! I was gonna say that it’s kinda cool! Sheesh, you’d think I was gonna say somethin’ mean!” 

“You always do, Scout.” Heavy retorted.

“I’m just pokin’ fun s’all. Me an’ my brothers would do it all the time!”

“Do you like it when they make fun of you?”

Scout thought about it for a few seconds, then responded slowly, “Well… no. I guess not. But I always know they’re jokin’, so I don’t take it serious.”

“If it does not make you feel good, do not do it to others. Is not nice.”

The conversation ended there, with Scout unable to really think of a good way to reply. They drove in silence, with Heavy occasionally having to reach over and correct Scout’s steering just in case they drove off the road. To try and lighten the mood, Heavy started up the conversation again with something less awkward. 

“So. What will you wear?”

Slightly startled by Heavy’s voice after minutes of silence, Scout replied, “Well, I was thinkin’ of dressin’ like Tom Jones, but I think I got somethin’ better in mind. I want to look scary, y’know? So I was thinkin’ of bein’ a demon! Y’know, those guys who torture shmucks for fun. An’ it’d be kinda cool to wear horns…maybe I could poke Spy with one’a those big forks.”

Strangely fitting, Heavy thought silently to himself.

“We will see what they have at MannCo. Store in town. Maybe they have what you want.”

The young merc grinned wide at the thought, “Yeah, maybe!”

– An hour later –

“Oh c’mon, c’mon, why don’t they have anything!”

They’d been wandering around the store for nearly an hour, and Scout was getting more and more frustrated by the minute. 

It was aimless walking back and forth through the aisles of the store, rifling through the racks and boxes, which even led to a heated argument between the cashier and Scout that nearly got them both kicked out before Heavy stepped in-between the two and put it to an end. Once it had mostly calmed down, they went right back to strolling around hoping that the promised costume would appear magically somewhere for them to find.

“Scout should pick different costume. Something similar? Like this?” Heavy held up what looked like a dragon costume. It was kind of tacky, but it looked like something Scout might want to wear.

“I mean… th’ hoodie on it is kinda cool I guess. And the dorky little wings could be awesome to wear…” Scout said hesitantly. 

“Good. Then you get, we can leave. Must hurry before Spy’s suit gets wrinkled.” Heavy responded firmly. He was starting to get worried about the tailored black suit in his hands. He remembered Spy’s threat vividly as he held it carefully.

“Sigh …. Okay. It’s no freakin’ awesome demon costume but I guess it’ll work.”

‘Finally!’ Heavy thought with relief as they approached the cashier, who was still giving Scout the evil eye as he negotiated a rental fee. Despite how quick Scout usually was, it took a spectacularly long time to help him make decisions about things he took a little too seriously sometimes.

This was something Heavy had grown accustomed to, as he was always paired with the young merc for shopping trips, among other things. At one point he even approached Engineer (who was usually the one to determine who went where, being the most level headed of the bunch) about the decision, and the only explanation he got was that he had the size and strength to keep Scout in line if needed. Which wasn’t entirely wrong, but it wore him out everytime he had to wrangle Scout in from yet another fight or flirting session.

Thankfully he and Scout had managed to avoid a full-on brawl this go around and were able to make it out of Teufort without sporting bloody noses or black eyes. They didn’t even have to spend a cold night in the Teufort jail and wait for Miss Pauling to bail them out, which was a crowning achievement for Scout. 

“Hey, this fits great!”

“Glad you like. Won’t have to go back for refund.”

Once they’d arrived back at their little rented out house, Scout instantly took to wearing the costume and admiring it. His doubts were washed away once he’d realized how fun it was to play with the fake dragon tail and wings that came with the outfit. 

“Heck yeah man! Cause, the rental fee was like, 50 bucks! Screw that!” 

Heavy shook his head, then looked up to see Engineer approaching the two.

“Ah, ya’ll are back. Did’ja get Spy’s suit? He’s real grumpy that yer late with it.” Engineer had come outside to greet them in the dirt driveway. He was wearing a well-made Albert Einstein costume complete with wig and coat, even removing his glove to reveal his interesting robotic hand that whirled and clicked every time he gestured with it. 

“Could not be helped. Little man had trouble finding costume.”

Engineer peered around Heavy to see a very pleased Scout trotting inside, well prepared to brag about his new costume to anyone who’d tolerate it. 

“He seems pretty dang happy with the one he ended up with at least. You’re not lookin’ too bad yourself partner. But uh… what exactly are ya supposed to be?” Engineer asked curiously.

“I match with Medic, you will see. Do not want to give away yet.” 

“Can’t wait ta see what he’s wearin’! I’m sure it’s a real scare, knowin’ him.”

Heavy nodded proudly, well aware of his friend’s natural eeriness. He couldn’t wait to see how everyone would react to their matching costumes. 

“Alright, I’ll just hurry right along an’ get this suit back to Spy. You did a good job keepin’ it clean, but knowin’ him he’s probably gonna spend an hour ironin’ the whole thing several times…” Engineer shook his head, a humorous smile playing on his lips at the thought as he carefully draped the suit over his arm and made his way back into the house. 

Without much else to do, Heavy also went his own way into the building. He took a faster route around the side to Medic’s mock-infirmary area and passed Soldier dressed as a poorly-made robot being half-carried by Demo, who was wearing a pirate costume complete with fake parrot and a feathered pirate captain hat. 

The two were ambling down the hall, spilling beer down their fronts and laughing loudly. Heavy had to walk around and eventually help them up once they’d fallen down, causing them to laugh so hard that they ended up falling over again. It took a good five minutes to get them back on their feet, with Heavy having to steady them both just to get them down the hall.

“They will end up hurting themselves…” Heavy muttered under his breath, knocking three times on Medic’s door as he usually did. Surprisingly, he was not instantly greeted by the doctor’s friendly face waiting for him on the other side.

“Just one moment!” Medic called out from somewhere inside the room.

“Are you busy doktor?”

Silence, then Medic replied, “Oh! Heavy! You can come in! I may need your help wiz somezhing.”

Opening the door hesitantly, Heavy raised his eyebrows at the sight of Spy laying on a propped-up and uncomfortable-looking wooden table Medic had prepared, his chest cavity wide open. He was enveloped in the familiar red aura of the Medigun, with the doctor picking at his lungs and inspecting them. 

He was already instantly worried. This did not seem like a good idea.

“Doktor, is… is surgery good idea with respawn gone? We are not at base.”

“Ach, please, I vould nefer let anyzhing happen. Spy vill be perfectly fine!”

Spy mumbled something quietly, doing his best to take deep steadying breaths without speaking too much or too loudly. It was very strange to see his lungs move up and down even when raised high in the air with Medic inspecting them in his hands, still wearing his vampire outfit and getting blood everywhere. 

The masked mercenary craned his neck to look at Heavy’s own costume when he came into view, smirking. He nodded over at Medic, then gave the bigger man a more knowing look as if to ask if they were matching. The man was surprisingly good at speaking nonverbally. 

“Ah, we are matching, if that is what you ask?”

Spy nodded, already aware of it, seeming like he just wanted a confirmation. Then he raised his eyebrows, peering around Heavy as if trying to look around for something he brought. 

“Your suit? Engineer has it. He will bring to you when done, I think.”

Another curt nod, which was interrupted with a grimace as Medic prodded one of his lungs with a sharp tool. 

“Sorry, sorry.” Medic said absentmindedly, too focused on what he was doing with the lung to really care about anything else. He then glanced up and realized that Heavy was still standing off to the side, waiting for what the doctor wanted him to do.

“Right! Heavy, if you could, could you bring me ze detoxifier over zhere? It is ze little device next to ze jar wiz ze zebra brain- ja, danke.” Heavy picked it up and looked at it with curiosity before handing it over. Medic then hooked the oddly-shaped invention up to the lung with practiced ease, as if he put strange devices in people all day (which he most definitely does).

“I meant to grab it before I began but, aheh, I could not resist just digging right in! But I could not just waltz over zhere once I had ze lungs in mein hands, so…”

Heavy couldn’t keep up with Medic sometimes, what with his quick way of speaking, “Da? Am not sure what is happening, but glad to help anyway.”

“Herr Spy came to me not too long ago about seeing vhat I could do about his lungs. You know, wiz all ze smoking, he has been hafing trouble breazhing. So! I created zis little device here to help wiz zhat. I vill keep it inside of his chest cavity, so zis vill be a one time visit. Und remember Spy, zis vill not cure your emphysema! It vill only help, but stopping smoking is ze only cure, understand?”

Spy merely shrugged, still doing his best to focus on breathing and trying not to look too hard into his own open, gorey chest.

“Doktor can not fix?” Heavy asked.

Medic rolled his eyes a little, but not in any sort of mean way, “I mean, I can … But it is complicated. I can fix ze ailments, do ze lung transplants, heal wiz ze Medigun, all of zhat, but it does not mean anyzhing vhen he continues to smoke five packs a day! In ze end, everyzhing I do delays the inevitable. Und I just end up vasting lungs on him, really, so ze detoxifier should help somevhat.”

“Does- does Spy really smoke that much?”

“Hell if I know! But wiz ze amount of lungs he has gone through zis month, I vould not be surprised!”

Spy made a noise, clearly annoyed by how long the two had been talking. Medic turned back to him with a scowl, and the masked merc indicated at his lung still in the doctor’s hand, his eyebrows raised and an impatient look on his face. 

“Ach, fine, fine! I am done now, see?” Medic dropped the lung with the detoxifier back into his chest cavity, hooking up the other end of the machine to the second lung, all snug next to his own personal Übermaker that was still attached to his heart. He flicked a switch on the side of the Medigun, causing it to kick into full-gear and heal his chest completely. Spy took a few more deep breaths, and gave Medic a small modest ‘thank you’ before leaving, gone without a trace or even saying a proper goodbye.

“Vell, zhat’s done wiz. It seems I vork even on mein off days.” Medic paused, thinking, “Now, vhat did you need to see me for? Vas zhere a reason vhy you came by again?”

“Wanted to talk more before party later. Is that okay?”

The doctor appeared startled by the request for a few seconds before a warm, honest smile crossed his face. 

“Alvays.” 

— 3 hours later —

Once the sun had lowered considerably into the sky, darkening the landscape and painting the house in warm reds and purples, the team gathered in the backyard for a small costume party. 

Everything surprisingly started out rather normal, or as normal as any night the group could have; Scout was sitting with the others, eating burgers and hotdogs grilled by Soldier before Pyro, who was sporting a unicorn onesie, poked him with their finger and mumbled ‘Tag!’. 

They took off before Scout could retaliate, and once he’d realized what was happening a grin appeared on his face and he sprinted after them, nearly toppling the table over as he jumped out of his seat. It might’ve been a childish game to Scout, but he couldn’t resist taking the opportunity to stretch his legs and gloat about his speed. 

While they did that, the others complimented Heavy and Medic on their matching outfits after realizing what Heavy was meant to be. The doctor basked in the adoration before becoming quickly annoyed at Spy’s comments about the two of them, snatching up a bottle of liquor before sitting somewhere far away from him and ignoring his implications. 

Eventually, Scout and Pyro were sufficiently worn out from their game and Pyro proceeded to plop down next to Demo, who was doing his best rambling about something to a very sleepy Sniper. The Australian also had his own outfit on and was resting comfortably in what appeared to be a roughly-sewn kangaroo costume. Once he realized that Sniper wasn’t at all listening, he turned to Pyro and the two started talking about the best ways to start a fire, which caused the both of them to take notice that the campfire they were seated at had gone out. 

Sniper woke up with a start when he saw the two of them trying to seemingly blow a hole straight through the earth, pouring generous amounts of nitroglycerin and various chemicals all over the ground. Nobody knew how they even got them, and probably never would; but before anything else happened Heavy pried them away from their horrible concoction of death and scooped them both up under his arms, scolding them fiercely for nearly killing everybody.

“Awww, c’mon Heavy! We were just startin’ the fire! It’s bloody cold out here at night, an’ we needa lil’ bit o’ warmth!” Demo complained after being released from Heavy’s grip.

Pyro nodded eagerly, bringing out their favorite lighter and waving it around. Heavy quickly snatched it out of their hands before they could wreck any havoc. 

They protested, trying desperately to grab it back, but Heavy kept it above them at arms length, “Little пламя, will only give back if you behave! Cannot have fires everywhere!”

Pyro sighed and hung their head dejectedly once they realized they wouldn’t be able to get the lighter back, instead deciding to join Engineer at one of the tables and putting their head in their hands dejected. Engineer patted their back with a bemused look on his face, having seen the whole scene unfold and taking the lighter from Heavy silently, making sure that Pyro wouldn’t notice. Demo shrugged, not nearly as upset and leisurely grabbing a few bottles of alcohol and heading back over to his seat next to Sniper, who was now definitely awake and trying hard to avoid the pool of dangerous chemicals in front of him.

Everyone fell back into a sort of semi-quiet bliss, only broken by Soldier randomly bursting out of the woods a few minutes later carrying an armful of logs and looking considerably pale. Something seemed off with him. More-so than usual.

“MEN! We have an EMERGENCY!” He cried out, startling Demo awake after he slipped out of his chair from his drunken stupor.

Medic lifted his weary head up from the table, as he was closest to where Soldier had appeared from the short brush nearby. His glasses were skewed from sleeping on the table, nearly half-passed out from equal parts exhaustion and alcohol. 

“Ugrh, keep it down vill you? I am sure it is nozhing!”

Soldier frowned hard at Medic, expecting a more agreeable response, “Negatory! When I say it’s an emergency, I mean it cupcake!

The doctor woke up a bit more, now very frustrated with the American, “Oh, like zhat time you voke us all up at 3 in ze morning for an ‘emergency’ because you heard ‘Communists’ outside, but it vas really just one of your disgusting raccoons rummaging around in ze trash bins?”

“INCORRECT! That was merely me testing you! These emergency drills are put into place to make sure you yellow-bellied maggots aren’t slacking! We must all be prepared for anything!” Soldier thought more about what Medic said and then angrily whispered under his breath, “And Lieutenant Bites is NOT disgusting…” 

“Zhen get to ze gottverdammt point you utter buffoon! Some of us vould like some peace und quiet for once!” Medic yelled.

Soldier steadied himself, “Alright, don’t get your pretzels in a twist! I saw…” 

The rest of the team were staring at him now, waiting for him to explain what in the world was causing all the ruckus.

“I saw…”

“...”

“Get ta th’ bloody point Solly!” Demo called out, equally annoyed by the commotion.

“Fine! I saw skeletons! God damned bones just popping out of the ground! Of course, I managed to destroy most of them, but the damn things nearly bit me!” 

The team stared at him in bewilderment. 

Demo was the first to speak up after a minute of silence, “Uh, Solly, ya haven’t been drinkin’ water from th’ sink again have yeh? That stuff is full’a lead, ya know.”

“I have NOT! What I saw was real! No delicious sink water would have caused this!”

Heavy and the rest of the group continued to stare in disbelief. Soldier wasn’t exactly someone anyone could rely on for an accurate description of events. If anything, he probably ended up seeing a fallen tree or oddly shaped rock that had managed to spook him. It was well-known amongst the group that Soldier had always had a rather overactive imagination (to put it mildly). 

As the American continued to argue his point to Demo, the rest of the mercs continued with whatever it was they were doing. Medic laid his head against the table again, bottle still clenched in his hand. Sniper had begun talking with Pyro and Scout, and Heavy sat near Engineer and ate leftovers quietly. 

All was well.

“Gentlemen. It appears we have a situation.”

Spy appeared between Engineer and Heavy, standing next to them as he materialized, wearing his ironed black suit. 

“Oh? And what might that situation be, partner?” Engineer questioned curiously.

Spy bent closer to him, speaking with a slightly hushed voice, “It appears that our dear Soldier was not lying. There are indeed skeletons running about, and currently headed this way. I myself could not believe it, but it is safe to say that I can now.”

Heavy and Engineer both exchanged odd glances, then turned back to Spy with confusion, “Uh, ya sure you ain’t drinkin’ any sink water either? Cause-”

Spy scoffed, “Non. You would not catch me dead even coming close to the house water here. And if there was anyone you should believe here, it would be me. I would not lie or joke about such things.”

“Are skeletons a threat?”

“Yes. They are also quite large, angry, and rather insulting. They know a surprising amount of colorful swears.” Spy said with an air of nonchalant, as if it were an everyday occurrence to be seeing rude skeletons walking about.

Engineer’s gaze hardened as he thought over what Spy just said, “I reckon we do somethin’ about this then. How close did ya see em’ near here? Are they almost at th’ house?”

“I estimate they shall arrive here in 2 minutes, if they continue to follow Soldier’s trail of gunpowder and beer bottles to our location.”

Heavy abruptly stood from his seat, determination taking hold of him.

“Then we must kill them before they kill us. We have no respawn, but this should not be problem. We will destroy bone men easily.” 

Spy sighed heavily, “I suppose we must. There is not much else we can do about them.”

The bigger man smiled and cracked his knuckles, with Engineer walking swiftly to the garage to gather materials for some sentries. Spy slinked off to tell the others of the threat while eyeing the woods for signs of movement. 

Looks like things were going to get interesting.

Translations:

Russian:
Абсолютно (Absolyutno) - Absolutely
Пламя (plamya) - Flame

Chapter Text

Medic wasn’t expecting the night to go quite like this.

He’d planned for a night of leisure, which had already been interrupted by Scout’s annoying commentary, which forced him to sit somewhere else with a bottle to keep his mind off things. The doctor had even gone as far as to prepare an entire outfit for the occasion, and this was how he was rewarded? With Scout’s incessant nattering? Ridiculous.

His patience would be tested once again after being startled awake by Soldier’s loud panicked rambling about ‘big skeletons in the woods’, which would have definitely intrigued him if he were in a better mood. Unfortunately, it only contributed to his increasingly bad attitude before he attempted to slip back into a sleepy alcohol-induced haze.

When Medic awoke for the second time that night, he was certainly not expecting to be haphazardly thrown over Heavy’s shoulder while running away from the now smashed table that he was peacefully sleeping against only a few moments ago.

A human skeleton, far larger than any he’d ever seen (or extracted from any body of a living person) and at least 9 feet tall had crushed the wooden furniture into the ground, turning it into nothing but splinters and destroyed planks.

Another skeleton, which was even bigger than the one that ruined the table, made an annoyed clicking sound, not dissimilar to chattering teeth, at the smaller one.

“Oh, just great, you destroyed a table. Couldn’t even kill the one human that was sleeping! Real good job, you fuckin’ idiot!” He swung his arms up in a frustrated manner. This would have been a huge scientific discovery if Medic wasn’t still delirious.

The smaller skeleton turned around, and although it was hard to tell with its lack of facial expressions, seemed to get even angrier, “Oh really, Sacrum? Don’t go around yelling at me when you couldn’t even get that screaming human in the woods! Then maybe we’d actually have the element of surprise!”

‘Sacrum’ clattered and bared his teeth (which again, was a bit hard with the lack of any facial muscles), and prepared to lunge at the smaller of the two, moving at an alarming speed, “Oh that’s it Coccyx!”

They rammed into each other, slapping haphazardly and sending bones flying into the air. If Medic wasn’t dreaming right now, he was now seriously wondering if he was. He wasn’t drunk enough to be hallucinating. And now the whole situation was made much worse once he realized that there weren’t just the two skeletons; there were about three more glowing, equally enraged ones coming from the woods and running around trying to grab any mercs that were within reach.

The doctor was in too much shock to do anything but watch the whole scene unfold as he was carried on Heavy’s shoulder out of harm's way.

“Can someone tell me what in th’ freakin’ hell is goin’ on?! Or are we all trippin’ balls?” The youngest merc screamed, running alongside Heavy and Medic in a panic as the trio ran inside for cover.

They had managed to make it back into the building and began barricading all the doors and windows near them with anything they could find.

“Skeletons are trying to kill us, little man! We must fight back!”

Scout was attempting to push his weight into a large cabinet, moving it painstakingly slow towards the door to block it. Heavy ran over and pushed it easily, turning it onto its side violently as it slid into place and knocked all of its contents onto the floor.

“YeahIgetthat but where did they even come from!? What the hell do they even want with us?”

One of the skeletons proceeded to ram into the makeshift barricade, nearly toppling the bookcase. Heavy and Medic moved to push up against it, doing their best to dig their heels into the ground to prevent getting trampled by the large angry magic beast from busting through.

“SCOUT I ZHINK WE HAFE MORE PRESSING MATTERS AT ZE MOMENT!” Medic shouts as he desperately pushes up against the now half-destroyed cabinet, feeling the rush of adrenaline kick his mind back into sobriety.

Unfortunately, it appears that a bookcase isn’t super effective in warding off huge pissed-off skeletons who were capable of swearing a sailor under the table.

But hey, at least this time Medic was capable of getting out of the way by himself.

The skeleton that had managed to finally bust through the wall roared at them, and began swinging out to grab a frightened Scout, who barely managed to dodge the huge bony hand from snatching him up and ripping him in two. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, screaming at Medic and Heavy to hurry the hell up and get the fuck outta here cause we’re all gonna die.

“Not yet we won’t!”

Engineer, who had managed to appear from around a corner in the nick of time, whipped out the shotgun he was holding and aimed it directly at the skeleton’s bony skull and proceeded to blast a couple scattered holes straight through and launch bone shards into the air.

Without a second thought Medic and Heavy ran for their lives towards Engineer, who was continuing to fire rounds into the skeletal monster. The bullets only seemed to be making it angrier, as it barely flinched at the sting of the metal being pumped into it. Some of the bullets even ricocheted off of the magical aura surrounding it, flinging metal bits around the room with one of them finding its way into Medic’s leg.

Swearing in agony, he limped around the corner just in time for Heavy to grab him again and carry him out of the way, with Engineer doing his best to cover their escape deeper into the house. Gunfire, screaming and enraged roaring from their assailants were echoing off the walls with no real way to determine where they were coming from.

Scout, who had run farther ahead than the three of them, eventually heard him again as he sprinted back towards them with his bat in his hands. The young merc was practically sweating bullets, running his hand through his hair anxiously and looking even more panicked by the second.

“Guys, ya gotta come quick, Demo is hurt real bad- oh shit, fuck, Medic is hurt too! This is so bad, we don’t have the stupid frickin’ respawn or nothin’, I don’t wanna die to a bunch of dumb skeleton thingies ‘specially while wearin’ this dumbass costume-”

Engineer held up a hand to stop Scout from talking, knowing that if his mouth moved any faster he’d run out of breath and probably pass out. Medic’s head was still swimming from the shrapnel embedded in his leg and the slight haze of alcohol, but the whole situation nearly made him laugh in spite of it.

“Where is he, son?” The Texan asked with worry.

Scout pointed a shaky finger down the hallway that he’d come from, and the group followed the path to see Demo on the ground, gritting his teeth in pain as he gingerly touched the large nasty cut across his chest.

“Let me down, bitte.” Medic placed a hand on Heavy’s shoulder, who complied and carefully laid him down next to Demo. Assessing the damage, Medic looked over the gash and concluded that it only needed a wrapping to cover it; until he was able to get to his Medigun, which he silently thanked his past self for bringing. Tearing a good chunk of his cape, he applied pressure to the wound and wrapped his once carefully sewn vampire costume around Demo’s midsection to prevent any more bleeding. It would have to do.

“Aye… thank ye doc. I dunno what I’d do without ya.” Demo said gratefully, showing off a weak smile as he got steadily to his feet. Engineer moved forward to help support him under the arm and pull him up. Scout, who had been standing off to the side anxiously approached him, “Where did the thing go after it hurt you?”

Demo continued to hold his chest gingerly, wincing a little as he leaned against Engineer, “I got no idea lad. Bloody thing scurried off after I planted me boot right up its-”

“Fellas, I think we should spend less time talkin’ and more time movin’. We can think of a plan once we get somewhere safe.”

Medic’s mind instantly went to the Medigun, which was hopefully still attached to the table in his make-shift infirmary. It would be their saving grace, seeing as they didn’t have access to respawn. If they died, it would be permanent. And it would be rather embarrassing if they all got killed by a bunch of dirty-mouthed giant magic skeletons while wearing some, frankly, embarrassing costumes.

“Do not vorry. I already hafe one.”

The three turned to look at Medic hopefully.

“Ze Medigun should still be in mein room. It vill keep us alive long enough to find ze ozhers and figure out a vay to defeat zhese skeletons.”

“Well shoot doc, I reckon that’s as solid a plan as we’re gonna get right now.”

Scout piped up, “That all depends on whether or not we’re gonna still be alive by the time we get to it!”

“Nobody will die if Doktor is here.” Heavy said confidently. The compliment made Medic’s face feel rather warm as he soaked it in. However, the pleasant moment was interrupted once the group heard a loud roar close by, close enough to rattle the tacky landscape photographs on the walls right off their hooks.

“Lads, we should really, really be goin’ now.”

–

It took much longer than expected to reach the room.

First, the group managed to stumble across Spy, who was doing his best to sneak around one of the skeletons that had broken into the house.

The masked Frenchman had just snuck out from underneath the couch and into the hallway before he ran smack-dab into Scout and gave him such a fright that he yelled at the top of his lungs, alerting the skeleton to where they were. The group ran for their lives as the skeleton tore down the hallway after them, once again swearing up a storm and nearly snatching Demo up in one bony claw, only stopping its pursuit once it lost track of them around a corner.

Spy was quietly cursing and swearing at the four of them the whole way for ruining his escape plan and nearly getting him killed, but Engineer argued that if they hadn’t come in time he would’ve been dead anyway without his cloaking, which he had admitted to having somehow lost during the initial scuffle with the skeletons, much to everyone’s surprise. He said nothing back to that comment, choosing to stew in silent rage at the back of the group.

Next, they found Soldier and Pyro trying their best to overwhelm one of the smaller skeletons. They’d just managed to pin it to the floor of the living room before the group intervened and helped overpower and destroy it. It took a small army of mercenaries just to take down one little skeleton, apparently. It was still something however, and they rejoiced in their success for a moment before continuing on their way.

Finally, after what felt like ages, Medic was able to wrench his Medigun out from its stand near the wooden table and strap it to his back. He healed whoever was injured, starting with Demo and moving to Soldier, who had received a big blow to the head and was babbling about how it was probably his roommate who was behind all the magic crap. Nobody understood a word he was saying and didn’t make an attempt to, and even after he was healed he continued rambling which led Medic to believe that the injury had nothing to do with his behavior.

Now that the Medigun was back in their possession all they needed to do now was track down Sniper, who was alone and in need of assistance. There was no way he’d be able to take on the magical undead alone.

Before anyone could think to start talking about a real, bonafide plan, the team heard a huge stomping from outside accompanied with a lot of cursing. It would appear that their pursuers had returned.

“I know they’re fuckin’ in there somewhere!”

“Then break down the damn wall! What’re you waitin’ for?”

Medic sucked in a breath and whipped around as fast as he could manage, turning the Medigun’s beam on Heavy, who was closest. The two were nearest to the wall and braced themselves for impact.

Dust was kicked up into the air as the skeletons burst through the wall like it was paper, sending splinters of wood boards and other assorted wall-stuff into the air. Heavy wasted no time in charging it down, hands and arms bent with curled fists prepared to pummel and break bone.

Medic was quite tempted to sit back and watch the show, but if he hadn’t been worried about the fact that respawn wasn’t an option at this current point in time he would've done just that.
He steeled himself and cranked back the handle of the Medigun, so familiar and easy to him now that it was like breathing. He moved in unison behind Heavy who dodged one, two, three swipes and blows from the skeleton, keeping the beam locked on him in fluid motions.

Even with the looming threat of death hanging over them all, along with the thought that Sniper was either stuck or dead somewhere, the group didn’t hesitate in taking down their larger foe. It was both an impressive and hilarious sight watching several mercenaries take down a threat two times their size with nothing but their bare hands, a single shotgun, and a few flimsy plywood planks all while wearing ridiculous costumes.

Spy was nowhere to be found; which wasn’t altogether unsurprising; even without help from the cloak he was always rather good at slipping away. He wasn’t one to throw himself into battle like many of the others chose to do.

On the other hand, Heavy was doing a spectacular job in tearing apart the enemy.

“Haha! Puny, weak little bony men stand no chance against me!” He laughed gloatingly, crushing a femur the size of his head in his hands. The skeleton was sent downward, screaming in anger as it got swarmed by the rest of the mercs. It was really more of a slaughter than a battle as the beast was turned into bone meal.

Engineer pumped a few more rounds from his shotgun into the remains for good measure, eventually setting his shotgun down and wiping his brow with a hand, “Phew! That was a close one fellas. I think we took care of most of ‘em.”

Scout kicked the skeleton’s scattered remains for good measure and said unenthusiastically, “Yeah, but there were like, three more out there! And Spy and Snipes are gone! How are we gonna beat those things and find them if they gang up on us?” It seemed not even Scout could feel proud of their success.

The mercs glanced at Medic, seeing as he was the one to come up with a plan in the first place. But he really had nothing. Most of his expertise was within the bounds of medicine and scientific organ harvesting, not strategic battle planning. His last idea was purely one that he had pulled out of thin air after remembering the existence of his precious Medigun.

“I already know what ta’ do about that one laddie.” The group turned to look over at Demo instead, who was already looking much better than before, somehow having found a bottle of scrumpy and wearing a mischievous look on his face, “Remember how me an’ Pyro were tryin’ ta’ make a new campfire? All our nitroglycerin an’ gunpowder should still be in th’ hole it’s in, an’ if we can lure them big bony bastards over to it, I think we can send em’ straight back to hell all’at once!”

The group murmured amongst themselves, pondering the idea. It was a frankly dangerous and stupid decision, but when were their plans ever safe?

Demo stepped into the middle of the group, a look of determination gleaming in his eye.

“I got tha’ perfect plan for ye tadgers. Seein’ as we only got one shot at this, I was thinkin’ we work on a diversion ta’ lure th’ remainin’ skeletons to th’ pit. Pyro an’ Scout are some of our fastest, so I’m thinkin’ they get th’ bloody beasts to th’ hole. I’ll be standin’ near it to let er’ rip when th’ time comes. Heavy an’ Solly can subdue em’ while I get th’ charges ready. Engie can help me make th’ charges an’ set em up.”

As if on cue, Spy returned to the scene with a very ragged, disgruntled Sniper, who appeared to be no worse for wear. Scout practically jumped in surprise at the sight as Engineer came over to give Sniper a smile and a pat on the back. It seemed that everyone was now safe, for the most part.

Demo turned to Medic then, who had been leaning up against a wall and was finally taking the moment of rest to pry out the shrapnel still imbedded in his leg, healing it closed with his Medigun, “You’ll just be healin’ anyone who needs it, cause Lord knows we’re gonna need it.” Medic merely arched his eyebrow at him and resumed what he was doing.

Spy and Sniper watched the group silently, daring to hope that they wouldn’t be part of this frankly dangerous risky plot. That was until Demo wrapped his arms around their shoulders, giving them both a devilish grin.

“Don’t worry you two. I got an extra special job just for ye.”

Spy gave him a pained expression, “I beg of you, leave me out of this mad idea of yours.”

“Whaaat! You get tha’ fun part Spooks! Sniper gets to work as a lookout, but you…” Demo’s already worrying smile grew bigger as he brought Spy in close, who was looking close to murderous, “You get ta’ do somethin’ excitin’!”

–

“Everyone know what they need to be doin’?” Engineer called out, the group getting ready to get into position. Several nods, yesses, and a grumbled ‘this is ridiculous’ from an unhappy Spy were given in response, and everyone moved quickly and quietly to their stations.

Medic stayed close behind Heavy, who was joining Pyro and Demo in their finalized set-up of the explosives. Sniper had already run back into the house and climbed the roof to get a better view, making sure to keep close to the shadows on the roof. It may have been night, but the full moon was bright and looming overhead, filling the property with an eerie glow.

Spy, rather unfortunately, took his position as the bait.

Demo yelled with enthusiasm, “Remember! Be as annoyin’ as possible! Should be easy for ya!”

Spy merely returned that with an unenthused and rather inappropriate hand gesture as he took station near the explosion-pit, eyeing it warely. Medic and Heavy exchanged amused glances at this whole affair, for even if they died because of it, it would be pretty damn funny. Sniper perks up and nods at Demo, spotting the beasts and giving a thumbs up.

It wouldn’t be long before Pyro and Scout came rushing around the side of the building, the both of them looking scuffed as they tried not to trip over each other. Scout looks especially haggard as he screams, “THEY’RE COMIN’!” While Pyro lets out a muffled noise in agreement.

The three remaining skeletons come stomping around the corner, looking far more murderous now than before. They must’ve figured out what had happened to their comrades and were, to put it lightly, extremely unhappy.

Heavy and Soldier then spring into action, battling the creatures while Medic dances in a flurry of movements between them, activating the Medigun on each of them as they absorb blow after blow from the skeletons. Engineer and Demo make haste, rushing to the pit and attempting to activate as many charges as possible.

Medic could hardly believe how Demo managed to bring it all here; there had to be several pounds of dynamite, grenades, and various other explosives he couldn’t even begin to name. Something to be impressed about later, he thought, continuing to quickly dodge around his comrades as they were all pushed closer to the pit of death.

Demo and Engineer quickly back up as a long cord and plunger are placed nearby. Medic aimlessly wondered how they even managed to conjure that up before he was nearly knocked askew by a retreating Soldier. He picked up his pace, chasing after as Spy lunged into view, yelling at the skeletons and waving his arms at them to grab their attention.

“Regardez-moi! Tête de nœud! Sans-couilles!” It seemed like he was merely screaming simple insulting phrases, and although it was clear the skeletons could not understand a word of it, they quickly managed to pick up on his tone and began barreling towards him. Demo yelled, “GET OUTTA THE WAY!”

Spy quickly obeyed this order, diving to the side and scrambling unceremoniously under a bench, clearly dismayed about ruining his suit. The skeletons, unable to turn fast enough to grab him, stumbled over each other as they fell into the pit. For a moment, everyone held their breath, with Demo wasting no time in slamming down on the plunger.

Everyone hit the deck, with Heavy covering Medic instinctively against the blast. The heat from the explosion felt nothing like the heat from him, making Medic feel as though his face was burned.

They all turned back to the scene, watching in slowly-dawning glee as the remains of their foes were nowhere to be seen. Truly, it was a halloween miracle.

“Hell yeah, we did it! Freakin’ sweet!”

“Mmmph!”

“Ya said it. Whew, you know how t’ put on a show Demo.”

Demo’s face went dark at the compliment, becoming bashful with a wave of his hand. “D’aww, ya spoil me.”

Engineer eventually speaks up amidst the wreckage, helping a very annoyed Spy out from under the table. “I’d say that we all had just about enough fun for one night. How ‘bout we all clean up and tuck in?”

Medic could agree with that, suddenly hit with a wave of fatigue as he felt himself lean ever so slightly against Heavy. The burn of the adrenaline was beginning to wear off, and he didn’t particularly love the grime all over his once perfect costume.

“We should sleep after helping, doktor. Would be nice.”

He sighed at the thought, contemplating the comfort of his sheets. But he supposed it couldn’t hurt to help a little, especially after all the events of the evening.

“Agreed, mein freund. Let us begin zhis… ‘helping!’”

Translations:

French:

Regardez-moi! - Look at me!
Tête de nœud! - Dumbass!
Sans-couilles! - Ball-less! (as in cowardly)

Chapter Text

It had been a year since Medic had solidified himself as a staple of their team. A year of battles since his arrival, endless bloodshed and a feud that ran deeper than any of them could try to imagine.

Heavy wouldn’t want it any other way.

But it wasn’t until today that he realized just how great this feud would be and how badly the BLU wanted their revenge. None could dispute that the BLU team had a long and twisted history with them, vying for the desire to win against RED for once, even if it meant killing them permanently, and taking out a kitten orphanage no less.

It was a warm afternoon when they received the news of their imminent doom, and Heavy could do what felt like nothing as he watched Medic pace about, muttering to himself on what they could possibly do. They were all forbidden to abandon post, disallowed from escaping to freedom. What price was all of their lives worth, if they were meant to die like this?

Heavy wanted badly to help Medic. He wished to help all of them. More than that, he wondered how his family would receive the news, if they would even realize he had died, or if they would receive a curt letter of his demise months after the fact. He felt as though he had to do something.

While Medic attempted to make some form of a plan with Spy, who merely shook his head with dismay, Heavy did what he always believed he was best at. Being the shield, a protector. He knew it was foolish; how could he stop an entire train on his own? He believed in his strength, in his own abilities, but was there any way he’d be capable of this feat? Probably not. But he wasn’t about to sit around and wait for death to find him. No, he would face it with an expression set in stone and his soul bared and ready.

But he knew Medic wouldn’t let that happen. Medic, who instead chose to laugh in the face of death, who believed it to simply be a limitation, a failing of the human body to die. He knew, even as he positioned himself on the railroad tracks, he would not be alone in doing so. There would always be one man at his back ready to protect him.

The train came barreling down the tracks, the speed of it causing it to tumble over itself as he braced for it, stopping it with as much force as he could muster. He could faintly hear Medic yelling out after him as he felt the power of the ÜberCharge course through him, feeling his heartbeat and Medic’s sync in his mind and body. 

Even if he died to this, at the very least he knew that Medic would be close to him. A small comfort as he felt the crush of steel and metal surround him, the weight of it knocking him clean off his feet as he was sent backward in a daze. His vision went spotty, the world went sideways and he found himself sent into the earth with little more to say about it.

Oh, he should have known. He should have anticipated this, that BLU would strike them when they were once again vulnerable with no respawn to save them.

But not like this. 

Medic had always thought that, even if he was truly unable to cheat death in the end, he’d be able to at least join Heavy in that regard. He hoped he’d never see this day come to pass, mainly since he had worked so hard to prevent it.

It happened too fast, and he knew it was over, barely registering in his mind what had happened before Scout came barreling in, toppling him over as the train cars sailed overhead. There was truly nothing but shock flooding his system, thinking now about the man who he had once considered his own personal god and friend most likely now turned into paste.

Scout was yelling something he couldn’t hear due to the ringing in his head. The train cars had finally stopped, the dust starting to clear as the rest of the team looked around in shock. But all of it felt as though it was being viewed through a haze.

Heavy was gone.

Medic had long since fallen to his knees, barely registering the feeling of his body hitting the ground. Long gone would be the days the two would find themselves reading together, sitting side-by-side in their favorite spot, or finding each other on the battlefield, mowing down the enemy with ease. He never thought it would truly end, not when he believed that Heavy was an invincible god of Medic’s own making. It seemed impossible that anything could kill him. It didn't seem real.

Before he had much time to think more about this, before the shock would be overcome with immense grief, the BLU Spy quickly crept upon him, holding his trusty blade to the soft underside of his throat. Medic wished he could sling a dozen curses at him, each worse than the last, but even breathing seemed to test his limits.

Ever since the beginning, it seemed the two of them had been in a constant tango of death and resentment. And now he seemed to be done with it, willing to permanently kill his enemy with good-old-fashioned revenge. 

Some part of Medic was almost able to accept it if Heavy was truly gone. To live in a world without him was to not live at all. Living without purpose. Without meaning. But of course, death was never quite in the cards for him.

With a swift motion, almost silently, the BLU Spy was grabbed backwards by a mighty paw, one that could only belong to the one he was proud to call a friend. Medic felt ashamed at his surprise, for Heavy could defy death like no other.

In a single grand gesture of strength, Heavy slams the Spy’s body into the ground, crushing him in half easier than folding paper. If Medic hadn't already been so used to such feats, he was sure he'd be on his knees again in some sort of appraisal. Such things were not necessary, as much as Medic always believed they would be for someone like Heavy.

Much of the afternoon after this was spent in awe of it all, of their miraculous survival. From the sounds of it, the BLU team swiftly met with their comeuppance in the form of an explosion and their own base being ruined in the process. A relief, a single battle won in the war. 

“I’d say we all did a mighty fine job out there.” 

Engineer was holding up what has been cleared to be “safe to drink” water from some reserves from Teufort, choosing to stay sober for the night much to everyone's surprise. Despite how Medic had felt about the whole situation, he felt very much the same in remaining sober. 

He wanted to soak in, maybe even marvel at the fact that Heavy was left nearly untouched. Heavy himself had commented wisely, “Doktor’s Über saved life. Was easy not to die, I am thinking.”

The two sat across from one another, playing yet another round of chess. The two merely nodded at Engineer as they continued their game, with Heavy focusing on his moves and Medic focusing on Heavy, silently giddy that he was still here. 

Demo and Soldier had long since left the open-air commons area and stumbled their way outside in a drunken heap, no doubt out of their minds with it. Scout was reading some of his comics as he spoke, “Yeah, we all nearly freakin’ died, but sure.”

Engineer just chuckled softly at him, strumming a bit of his guitar as he paid what was surprisingly a well-earned compliment, “You did real well out there yerself, Scout. Did a lot more than you think.”

For once Scout didn’t seem proud of his accomplishments. For what it was worth, even Medic had swallowed some pride and gave him praise for saving his life, but maybe the weight of a permanent death, just this once, had felt like too much. 

Although there was that other time with the bread monsters, Medic recalls with an almost odd fondness now, where death was indeed imminent. But even Scout had some optimism then. 

“Does any of this even freakin’ matter? We’re always gonna hafta deal with those BLU assholes, an’ now they're just blowin’ us up! Like we don't gotta ‘nuff problems!” Scout huffed, flipping through a page with some anger. “No matter what we do, they’re always gonna be tryin’ to kill us for good.”

Engineer, Heavy and Medic exchanged looks. They couldn’t deny that the younger merc was right, that all this fighting was going to get them killed- and not in the way that they had experienced for so long. Something truly had to give and only one side would manage to come out of this endless war alive.

Engineer sets his guitar to the side with a small sigh, tipping his helmet up to get a better look at Scout from across the room. “Son, we’ve been in this fight long enough to know we ain’t about to give up. We got ourselves a job to do, an’ for as long as we got it we won’t give up on it. For all we know, we could be fightin’ killer robots tomorrow, but that certainly ain’t stoppin’ us. We’ve fought worse before, an’ we can do it again.”

Scout flips another page, apparently thinking hard about his words if the scrunch of his eyebrows was anything to go by. “Well… I guess so.” He didn’t seem reassured by any of it. 

“I reckon’ we’ve had enough of a day today. How ‘bout we all turn in?”

Scout mumbled some sort of agreement, tossing his comic off to the side and jamming his hands into his sweater pockets as he and Engineer began to head off. Before he did, Engineer turned to Medic and gave him a look, gesturing at him to follow.

Something about his expression seemed curious, maybe even concerned. Heavy seemed to catch on, clearing away their finished chess match as he nodded at him to go ahead.

Medic and Engineer found themselves outside standing beneath the porch whilst illuminated by a single light nearby. The doctor spoke first as he looked back at Engineer with mild confusion. “Is zhere somezhing you vant to talk about?”

“If you’ll entertain me for a minute.”

Medic just huffed. “Vell, I don’t hafe all evening.” He was a bit impatient after the day’s events, wanting to do some dissecting of a giraffe liver for one of his next experiments as a way to ‘let off steam’. He wanted a distraction. He needed a distraction.

“Yeah, I hear ya. Just… had a question, is all.”

The doctor stood in silence, posture straight as always. Engineer seemed oddly hesitant, and it made his eye twitch. Need to get to that liver.

“When are you gonna tell him?”

“Vhat?”

“Heavy. You should really tell him, y’know. Before it might be too late. We’ve had a lotta close shaves recently, an’ I know you’re thinkin’ about him.”

Medic lets out a laugh that sounds odd to his ears, almost too high-pitched and awkward to feel natural. An uncomfortable feeling crawls up his back as he says, “Aha, vhatever do you mean?” 

He desperately hoped Engineer was talking about something, anything else than what he assumed. Yes, he was always affectionate with Heavy. He knew that everyone had caught on long ago that the two of them shared a close bond. But he never thought more about it, about what more they could have.

Engineer is giving him a look again, one with too many hidden meanings. Like he knows far more than he lets on. It’s infuriating. “I’m not one to pry, but I figured with how everythin’ has been goin’ with us and the BLU team it might be the right time to tell him how ya feel.”

Medic wasn’t laughing anymore. Who was Engineer to think that he could even have the gall to speak on such matters! Medic had come to see him as a friend, the two working together on all sorts of projects, combining the knowledge of biology and mechanics to work wonders in their favor, but what goal was to be had in telling him this?

He just cared about Heavy, quite simply put! There are no other words to describe it. Now, Medic was no fool- he knew enough about the matters of ‘love’ to understand there was nothing to be gained from it. Certainly not from whom he had once called family long ago, and certainly not from anyone he might’ve had the capacity to love before… it all meant nothing to him, he thought. And even if it did, there surely would be no way that Heavy would ever reciprocate, he knew this about the man.

But Engineer didn’t seem to think so, with the way he patiently awaited Medic’s response. 

Medic stopped himself from saying anything as he realized Engineer hadn’t even mentioned the word love once. 

Your mind truly is running away from you, isn’t it Ludwig?

Oh, shut up, will you?

He decides to merely let this go. Engineer means well, unfortunately. No sense in creating any sort of conflict over this. “Aheh, vell, I do not know vhat kind of assumptions you are making, but I assure you zhat zhere is nozhing more to say. Herr Heavy is merely a… very good friend.”

Engineer gives him yet another look, and it is somehow more aggravating than the last. Remember the livers, Ludwig. Remember you have something to unwind with later.

“Guess that ends that then.” Engineer turns to leave, giving Medic a friendly pat on the shoulder that makes him grit his teeth. “But don’t forget… Heavy might appreciate a lil’ honesty .”

Medic is left alone on the porch for a moment, taking in what Engineer said before he too walked off into the night, not realizing that Heavy was watching after him.

As soon as he got to the small infirmary this little base provided, he immediately got to experimenting as he pulled a fresh liver from his collection. He didn’t want to think about any of that day’s events- not the dread of death finally taking him, even with his soul-collecting going well- not the idea that Heavy was gone- and certainly not whatever Engineer had just put into his head. 

He hesitated as he pulled open a drawer, pausing at the small notebook he had written in many months ago. Not daring to open the pages with his heart having been splashed across them, he left the notebook behind and shut it before opening the correct drawer and pulling out a malicious-looking scalpel. Focus. 

The goal for the night (aside from ignoring his feelings) was to, hopefully, make a more efficient liver for Demo. The current one he had made wasn’t cutting it anymore, and at this point it had become a race to see if he could compete with Demo’s frankly impressive alcoholism. Turning to the task at hand, he snapped on his rubber gloves once more and prepared himself to toil away at his work before he heard a rhythmic, familiar knock on his door. For once, it did not make his heart metaphorically swell, but instead left a feeling of unease. Or, anticipation.

“Ah, Heavy! Vhat are you doing up so late?”

Heavy’s smile turned to one of puzzlement as he stepped inside the infirmary, still holding the chess board under his arm. He placed it on a nearby counter to be tucked away for the next trip before turning to Medic, “Is still early, doktor. You are never good with time.”

Medic adjusts his glasses as he takes in the clock on the wall. “Ah, I suppose not. Still, is zhere… somezhing I can do for you? Unless you are just here to chat?”

Despite the peculiar feeling, Medic couldn’t help but be warmed by the big man’s presence. They had a perfect ebb and flow, an easy lull to their conversations and body language that came with countless hours spent over months and months together. He truly wouldn’t change it for the world.

Heavy did seem to be acting a bit oddly, however. Medic tried to ignore it. Even with them being close friends, how people behaved always seemed to elude him.

“Yes, just chat. Want to make sure doktor is okay.”

“You asked me zhat earlier…”

Heavy scratched the back of his bald head with some uncharacteristic awkwardness, “Uh. I did. But talk with Engineer made you upset?”

Medic just waved a hand at him nonchalantly, trying to return to the task at hand. “Bah, it vas just a simple conversation, nozhing for you to worry about.”

“You know I will anyway.”

With a sigh, Medic put down his scalpel again knowing how this conversation was bound to go. He always assumed Heavy’s protective, concerned nature was due to how he, supposedly, behaved with his sisters if his stories were anything to go by. But Medic really did not think that was something that should be extended to him, even after all this time. He could protect himself just fine, and he could certainly deal with a conversation just as well.

“Ach, Engineer vas just asking somezhing personal.”

Heavy sits for a moment before he asks something else, more quietly, “And earlier?”

“Vhat about earlier?”

“You were scared. BLU Spy…”

Medic flinched. He never wanted to appear frightened like that. It made him feel weak, something he knew that blasted BLU Spy wanted more than anything. He certainly had half a mind to turn him back into a head.

“Vell, you dealt vhis zhat, didn’t you? Problem solved!” Medic let out an unconvincing chuckle at that, reveling in the Spy’s broken form shoved into the ground. Well-deserved in his mind.

“Yes, but you also worried about me.”

“Ze Über, I almost believed it had failed you. Zhat you vere dead. Hard not to be a little concerned about zhat!” Medic lets out an unconvincing laugh.

Heavy has since approached him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. Medic’s gaze flickered from where it rested on him to his eyes, staring intently at his expression. “With you, I can never die. I am, greatest experiment? Like you say? Nothing is impossible with my doktor.”

Oh. He’d never been called his doctor before. He felt his face heat up suddenly, warmth blooming in his chest at the sentiment. He laughs giddily, patting Heavy’s hand that was still on his shoulder. “Hoohoo, mein friend, you are- you alvays know just vhat to say!”

Heavy smiles widely at him before scooping him up into one of his classic bone-crushing hugs, knocking both the breath out of his lungs and making his glasses go askew. Medic does his best to return the hug, wrapping his arms around the bigger man’s shoulders. Something about this hug makes Medic’s heart skip a beat, and for once he’s positive it’s not because of some sort of condition. 

The implications of it make him abruptly pull away, a bit breathless. Something was clearly strange, even more than it had been. These moments felt like they were getting to be almost too much, and yet he craved it. It was bizarre, an odd juxtaposition of feelings. 

And after today it almost felt as if it was stronger than ever before… perhaps Heavy’s brush with death had awakened something more within the doctor, a level of newfound protectiveness and fear of losing something important to him again.

“Ahem, vell I, uh… I must get back to ze vork.” Medic almost feels reluctant in doing so, but before he can correct himself Heavy just gives a short nod. “I understand. Doktor has important work. Do not forget to sleep.”

He says it with genuine care and a twinkle in his eyes that leaves Medic smiling dumbly after him, even after he has long since left the room. He shakes his head and attempts to return to his work, poking and prodding at the liver even after he had thoroughly picked apart the whole thing.

Another sigh escapes him as he leaves it to sit sadly on his counter, left at the mercy of a rather bloodthirsty Archimedes. 

Medic laid awake that night, knowing he would be unable to fulfill Heavy’s request. He truly did want to sleep, but it was once again proving to be elusive. He couldn’t help but think about it all, running it through his head as he thought of what else could be said, or done. Mostly, he thought about Engineer’s words. Be ‘honest’ with Heavy, huh? 

Well, he supposed there was one way he could be honest.

After a couple more grueling days and a long, morose ride back to Teufort, the team resumed their daily activities until the next week’s battles could begin. The air still possessed a rather solemn vibe knowing what had transpired, and the closer the clock ticked downwards towards their next battle the more serious everyone became. The BLU team, while having been thoroughly revenged, would soon feel the wrath of the RED team.

Heavy was busy cleaning and prepping Sasha, as usual, when he hears the ever-familiar knock of Medic at his door. He opens it and feels himself smile instinctively as he soaks in Medic’s manic presence, clearly excited about showing him something new. It is a welcome sight with all the doom and gloom around the base.

As Heavy is dragged along, silently apologizing to Sasha for cutting her cleaning session short, he ponders what Medic might have for him. Maybe that new book finally came in? A replacement bishop after Pyro set their chess pieces ablaze by accident? A new part for one of his newest bonesaw creations?

Oddly, it was none of these things as Medic’s hold around his arm releases and they enter his room together. The doctor shuffles around a while, letting Heavy sit on the bed with a large creak and a mildly befuddled look on his face. 

After a couple more minutes of watching Medic reorganize the same book pile for the third time in a row he finally speaks up, “Doktor? Do you need me for something?”

Medic jumps as if he’d completely forgotten Heavy was even still in the room. He makes an endearing startled sound as he turns back around with an apologetic expression. 

“Ach, Heavy! I am sorry, I meant to tell you somezhing important but got utterly distracted!” He waves his hand and brings up a chair to sit across from Heavy, appearing satisfied once he'd done so.

Heavy raises a single eyebrow and gives him a little grin. His doctor was a very interesting man, full of little moments like this that made his heart feel full. 

“What is important thing?”

Medic rubs his arm, face scrunched up as he thinks. “Vell, you and I hafe known each other for quite some time, ja?”

Heavy nods. 

“Aheh, vell I know it might be against our contracts, but I vas nefer one for ze rules. I feel I must tell you somezhing, since ve are… close. And it vould be good to be honest… ”

Heavy nods again, starting to feel more concerned about where this conversation was going.

“I vould like to tell you my real name.”

Heavy’s eyebrows raise as he leans back a bit, not at all expecting something so tame. Rather, he was expecting Medic to try offering some sort of ultra-mega-illegal operation that even Mann Co. couldn't allow. This answer was much more relieving. “If doktor wants, I can also tell name? A trade?”

Medic claps his hands together in delight. “Ja, ja! A good idea, mein freund!”

Heavy finds out quickly the name of, admittedly, the closest friend he has had in a long time- Ludwig. Ever mysterious, he wouldn’t say whether it was a first or last name, which Heavy supposed was fair. In return, he only gave his first name as well, which Medic took to trying out by frequently repeating it. “Mikhail. Mikhail! Excellent!” A toothy smile spreads across his face which Heavy easily returns. 

“Can also call me Misha. Both are good.”

Medic nods, still smiling as he pats Heavy on the arm. “I like Misha. It is very… you! In a good vay!”

Heavy still finds it rather comical how Medic had to pull him away just for this, until Medic’s face becomes deathly serious. “Now, just do not tell anyone my name. I suspect ze German police may still be after me.”

“Uh. Then-”

“Also I do not vant ze rest of ze team knowing my name. Very unprofessional.”

“Ah. Right. Doktor very private.”

Medic nods again, and with how suddenly formal he had become, Heavy almost expected a hand-shake and a curt farewell. Thankfully, Medic- or rather, Ludwig- launched into a small bout of conversation before they drifted towards his infirmary, talking animatedly as he discussed some new mechanics with the ÜberCharge and how it interacted with the heart. Heavy did his best to listen, but his doctor tended to start speaking so fast it might’ve made his head spin.

Once Heavy laid in place on the operating table, watching Medic rummage around in his insides like the two were on a normal everyday outing, they struck up conversation once more. Heavy liked these moments, strange as they were; he’d gotten awfully used to having this peculiar man wave around his entrails while they spoke about the weather. 

Heavy truly loved these moments with him. It felt good to see Medic- Ludwig- in his element, all smiles and natural expressions. Loving it all was as easy as breathing, and he could see it rather clearly with his chest cavity open to the world. It felt intimate when they interacted this way and it was enough to make Heavy’s heart literally and metaphorically flutter.

As Medic leans in towards Heavy, smelling of copper and the light cologne he tends to use, Heavy can feel his face heat up slightly as he makes use of calling him by his real name as he tells him a joke. That would definitely take some getting used to. 

They carry on like that for hours, but it could’ve been mere minutes. After Medic was satisfied with his work and healed Heavy up, they said goodnight to one another while making it a point to use their names. It felt right. 

Heavy can’t quite sleep that night. He tosses and turns and can almost feel the ghost of Medic’s hands on his heart, arms, lungs, all oddly tender and sweet. It felt different. 

Perhaps he was more gone on the doctor than he realized. At first, he believed it to be a close friendship, but now he can hardly sleep without a manic grin in his peripheral, or intense eyes gazing at him over round glasses.

He rubs his face, sensing defeat in the face of his greatest foe; his own feelings on this matter. 

“Что я должен делать?”

Chapter Text

Hello again guys, coming back with yet another update and potentially the last thing I post on this fic (yes. I know. And I am sorry).

It's been such a long time since I've been fixated on TF2, which I still love! Although rather unfortunately not as much as I used to, if that hasn't been obvious. I feel the need to update you all on things for anyone still reading, which I doubt haha. 

I'll be upfront, I won't likely finish this, although I do have remnants of the remaining story floating around somewhere. I won't spoil the ending in the event I miraculously get back into TF2, but who knows at this point x[ . I hate dragging this out, though, and I feel like you all deserve to know what’s going on!

Simply put, I've just moved on, and I'm mostly focused on my own characters now, which I may share my works of for anyone still fond of my writing style even if I think I've improved much more than when I first began this fic (hopefully). 

The most important thing I want to say is THANK YOU! If I truly never come back to this, I just want you all to know your comments and kind words have compelled me to create far more than I anticipated, and helped me face my own hang-ups with writing. I appreciate it more than you all could know.

Despite all the grammar issues and troubles in translation, this fic helped give me the first big push into creative writing that I needed. And now I can create my own worlds and characters with all that I've learned!

TLDR; thank you so much for everything, for those who are still reading. I apologize for not truly finishing it and for being a bit too afraid of messing up how I wrote it all originally. I may post more of my own personal work for those interested, we shall see! Thank you, again, for everything!