Chapter 1

The spy held onto her medic for dear life, waiting of the imminent explosion. Had only one of the soldiers been firing at them they may have had a chance of escape, even if it would be by fluke, but with rockets coming from both sides it looked like it would be impossible to evade the attack.

As she hugged him closely she listened to his soft and shallow breathing. Somehow it managed to calm her down somewhat. It was calm and steady despite what was happening around them, bringing her a sense of serenity. She knew that this was because he was in pretty rough shape, and that thought crossing through her mind pained her, but there was nothing she could do to help herself, let alone him.

Closing her eyes she listened to his breathing until it was overtaken by the shrill whistling sounds of the two soldiers’ rockets. This was it: This is where everything would end and all their hard work would be thrown out the window by the power hungry RED and BLU corporations, the very people they’d been trying to escape.

Soon enough she heard the deafening explosion and felt the intense heat, and instantly thought that this was the end. But after only a few seconds she realized something was very off. Although the heat was scorching and the noise left her able only to hear a seemingly never-ending ringing, she knew something had gone awry. Neither she nor the medic had bitten the dust by then, while she’d expected them to be obliterated instantly.

Her eyes flashing open she franticly looked around to see what was going on. The initial brightness of the area left her virtually without eyes for a few moments, but they adjusted as the blinding white light faded somewhat, and she could then properly see the scene.

She found a few new craters scattered about, dents in the earth that a few of the stray rockets had created. For the most part they’d been targeted at the same location, but in almost every batch there were one or two that would miss, if even by a few feet. This sight led her to wonder: if the strays had drifted and missed them, where were all the others?

Seeing no evidence of the other five rockets on the ground the spy instinctively looked up, hoping to discover the whereabouts of the rest of the rockets.

Within seconds she found what had happened to them, and a look of surprise crossed her face. It took her only another moment to deduce what had happened to produce this random turn of events.

Amongst the melancholy of sounds nobody had noticed the approaching transport helicopter until it had been too late. Both of the soldiers had seen it, though not until after they’d each fired off four of their rockets. Before their eyes all but three of the rockets had collided with the helicopter. It was a near impossible shot that left the whole of the two teams with their mouths hanging open in awe at the pure chance of it.

As the spy looked directly above her she very quickly realized that it wasn’t at all safe to stay there. As she stared up at the explosion pieces of the blue painted metal rained down all around her. IF she wanted any chance of getting out of there alive, she had to get moving; otherwise she’d likely be crushed by the wreckage.

Grabbing hold of the medic’s armpits she began hauling him over the barren land. The work was somewhat slow as he was heavier than he looked, but she would rather try to drag him to safety with her than let him die. A searing pain in her side told her to stop, to try and save only herself to lessen the pain, but she ignored it, dragging him along regardless.

It wasn’t long before she collapsed, partly due to the pain and partly due to exhaustion. Glancing upward again she saw that she’d at least gotten them away from the immediate danger. Various parts and pieces of metal were still being thrown every which way, but they weren’t nearly as big and dangerous as if they would have been directly under the contact spot.

“Damn it all...” the spy muttered to herself. This was shaping out to be one heck of a day; some amazing alone time with her medic, two friends and comrades killed without any warning, what had seemed like an inescapable death... she honestly didn’t know what to think of all of this.

Her thoughts weren’t able to wander through any more of that at all, though, for they were still in a pickle. As she’d been dragging the medic away they’d both been pelted with sharp pieces of flaming hot metal and debris. Even now she had to almost constantly dance about to dodge the larger bits, though there was no way to fully avoid the wreckage.

Once things calmed down a bit she allowed herself to take a moment to catch her breath. The sky was dimming own now to its usual night time blackness, save for the smouldering ruins of the transport craft, which caused the moonlight to cast eerie shadows across the ground. Debris had stopped raining down, and everything seemed to have become quieter, making it seem as if nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened.

The spy reached into her pocket, hoping to find the mini-flashlight she’d taken from the pyro’s stash of survival items. Luckily through everything that had happened it was still there, and when she took it out and flicked it on she found that it was still in working order. Times like these made her happy that she was nearly always on the prowl.

The moonlight provided a good basic light, but she needed something a little more focused. She planned to find a shelter for her and the medic among the wreckage, one that would also serve as a decent hiding place.

At first she saw absolutely nothing of interest, but a second, more detailed scan of the area turned up something that defiantly got her attention. To her left, half-buried under what looked to be the tail of the helicopter was a spy dressed all in blue. His clothes were tattered and torn and his left arm missing completely, but there was no mistaking him as anything other than a spy.

“Pyro must’ve gone a bit trigger happy when she fled with the medic...” she speculated. The mental image that made its way into her mind came with a chuckle as she imagined what might have happened.

She didn’t have long to fantasize about times past, however, for the silence of the night was soon broken. She could hear voices, still distant, but voices nonetheless. She knew she’d have to find a hiding place soon, but she figured she still had a bit of time. They were a long way off yet and it would take them some time to get there.

She’d look for someplace to hide soon enough, but for now something about this BLU spy intrigued her. A little closer than before she examined his body. Something about him felt different, almost as if she’d previously known him or something. Soon enough something caught her eye, making her forget all about that nagging feeling.

As the small beam of light swept across the man’s limp lifeless body out of the corner of her eye she saw a slight golden glint coming from just inside his blue suit. Reaching into the tattered cloth she felt a tinge of regret, for raiding dead bodies definitely wasn’t something she prided herself on. But times were different now. She had no supplies so this was her only way of obtaining things that could lead to her survival.

Soon she held in her hand what looked to be a golden pocket watch, engraved with the likeliness of a bird. It was a larger locket-type enclosure at the end of a medium sized chain. For a moment or two she examined it, trying to figure out what it was and how it worked. After coming up with nothing she slipped it into her own pocket. She was about to leave the body be when she thought of one other thing that would come in handy.

In the fray her cloaking device had been literally ripped apart, torn to pieces by the scraps of flying metal that had been whipping through the air. One particularly sharp piece had cut through the material holding it to her wrist, slicing through her flesh as well. It wasn’t a terribly deep wound and she’d been able to ignore it for the most part, but in the end she’d lost her only way of really hiding.

Luckily she found that this dead spy still had a cloaking device strapped to his only remaining intact wrist. She smiled, though only a little, as she worked around the dead man’s wrist to obtain what looked to be a normal watch. She knew better, though; she knew it wasn’t a watch at all.

Once she had it in her hands, however, she realized that it wasn’t the same as her old one. It was newer looking, more advanced.

“This spy must have been high up... either that or I was behind on the times,” she said aloud to no one in particular. Quickly she fitted the crocodile skin print straps over her right wrist, making sure it was secure. She’d spent too much time here and had to act quickly now, for the voices were steadily coming closer.

“Where d’you think they were blasted to?” a voice said gruffly. The spy took the owner of the voice to be one of the soldiers’, and by the sound of it there were a lot closer than she’d initially thought.

“Dun ask meh!” the voice of a demoman answered, “Yer tha one tha’ fired tha bloody rockets! I dun even know why I’m here... you blew ‘em up. I should be back at tha base celebratin’!”

“Oh, will you quit your yapping? We got ourselves into this, both RED and BLU, and we have to make sure we finish it. They’ve caused us too much trouble already. We have to remove them from the picture so things can get back to normal,” a sniper muttered just loud enough for the spy to hear.

“Hey, you could’ve finished it at any time. If it had been me that’d been on RED and lookin’ over everything...” a scout pointed out cockily, calling the sniper on his many missed opportunities.

“Damn it, scout, I know that. We all had more than enough chances to stop this before it was set in motion,” the sniper cursed, his tone dark. His voice softened as if in self-hate as he spoke further, “Why didn’t I at least try to stop it? I should have known something was up...”

It was clear that even though he’d defended everyone’s actions, he felt himself partly to blame for all of this. The spy had been under his care, and something hand undoubtedly been wrong with her. But there was nothing he could do now except make sure things were put right again.

The spy realized that they were mere yards away, and knew she had to do something. If they were to even take a few steps in her direction they’d be able to see over the large pile of junk that was hiding them, and by the way they were talking that wouldn’t lead to anything good. Unsure of how to work this new watch she fumbled with it franticly, pushing the right button at the last minute. The cloak came into effect just as the group came into sight.

“Well, here’s that dumbass medic... where’d the spy get off to, though?” the BLU scout questioned. In truth he didn’t think much of it, thought she’d been blown to smithereens by the blast, but he voiced the question that was on the others’ minds regardless.

“Don’t know... we’ve searched all around. This is the only place left,” the BLU soldier remarked, scratching his chin in thought.

“We could leave ‘er at that, go an’ have a drink,” suggested the RED demoman.

“Of course you’d be thinking that...” the RED sniper commented. He looked a bit more before continuing, “She might still be out there, probably stole away before we got here...”

The spy looked at the group nervously, fearing the time when her invisibility would run out. The option of making a run for it had crossed her mind, but she’d quickly dismissed it as fruitless. The cloaking device had a strict timer on it; it was rather difficult to make use of it wisely under normal circumstances, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to make it far at all in her current state.

She’d decided that although it would likely prove worthless either way, she’d stay be the medic’s side, hidden as she was. Still, the thought of being discovered and killed without a chance to defend herself frightened her. Aside from her eyes, which darted about nervously in anticipation of when they’d find her, she didn’t move a muscle.

Nervously she thought that he cloak was about to run out but still stayed perfectly still, out of fear more than anything else. She closed her eyes in anticipation of when her cloak would dissipate. Much to her surprise, though, she found that the group of enemies never rushed her, didn’t even notice she was there.

A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead, making its way across her furrowed brow, as she carefully opened one eye and let it rest on the group. Just as she’d thought they were all still crowded around the medic, deciding what to do next. They didn’t realize she was there because her cloak, which seemed to have infinite power, was still in effect.

::End of Chapter 1::

And here it is, the long-awaited (but not really) sequel to my most popular (and only) multi-chaptered Team Fortress 2 fanfiction! I had some requests to make this and after mulling a few ideas around in my mind for a bit I finally straightened out what it's going to be like. And I like where it's going.

Here's a sneak peek (that really won't give away too much): there shall be new characters, new environments, a new plot (obviously), some interesting twists, and awesome stuff like that. I must warn you, in the first few chapters things can get kinda violent for reasons you shall soon behold. But it's Team Fortress 2, so who cares?!?

Now, some of you wondered how on earth the spy and medic would survive that. Now you know. More will be explained later, don't worry. After all, this is just the beginning...

I hope to post a new chapter every week. In writing I'm up to (halfway through) chapter eight, and typed out I've completed chapter 4. That gives me a bit of time to get ahead of the game, which I definately like. Makes it less likely for me to go on hiatus in the middle, which is something I don't particularly like to do. Anyway, that being said, chapter two should be posted next Saturday! Happy reading!

TF2 (c) Valve