a raspy voice echoed through the speakers all across the establishment, alerting the mercenaries of the latest point capture update. gold reflected against the sunlight, the small ticker moving slowly around the numbers. screams of war filled the air, the usual noise that drowned out just about everything else out, including the ability to hear one’s own thoughts. day in and day out it was the same, repetition playing kin to a record on repeat, or groundhog day. whichever one thought of first.
today was a particularly slow, sweaty mission, seemingly as though neither team wanted to work. would it kill the industries to give them a day off here or there? a deep sigh bubbled, sweat causing the man’s neck to itch. gloved fingers pulled at the collar of the blue suit, attempting to fan himself whilst he waited.
for what? who really knew… anything. perhaps nothing. chattering filtered through the communicator piece nuzzled comfortably in the merc’s ear, allowing him to listen in to the conversations amidst his teammates. it ranged from the usual plan ideas, positioning, uber calls, etc. most of the time he played off of the calls, popping in and out whenever the team absolutely needed him.
however, it seemed as though there wasn’t a need for him quite yet. until static interrupted the rest of the voices. static accompanied by bits and pieces of someone’s desperate pleas for assistance. the signal was so terrible that he was barely able to make out the location the individual was stammering out. it was a voice that the mercenary instantly recognized even with the constant cutting out. admittedly, the person was one of his favourites, and it looked like duty was calling.
with haste, cathal made his way through the map, though he knew it wouldn’t take long to reach his fellow teammate in need. luckily when the distress call came in, he was somewhat near their location. well, closer than any other blu members anyway. in a matter of minutes (three minutes and sixteen seconds to be exact), he finally reached the location where his teammate was, or rather should be. oh, and would you look at that– he was here. being cornered by an enemy no less.
a red medic? daring to fight blu one? well, sad to say, lenny wasn’t exactly the most aggressive medic around, and he failed often in properly defending himself. too much of a passive individual to be working for the industries, so why he even playing war?? a story for another time maybe. right now, lenny needed the spy’s help, and he wasn’t about to let an enemy bring harm to his medic.
sneaking up, cathal twirled his knife between his fingers before gripping the handle and raising it. green hues flicked to lenny’s face, which contorted in surprise as the medic’s gaze rested on him, giving him away. just before the knife could fall into the neck of the enemy, they swirled around, a glint of silver flashing in cathal’s peripheral until he found the blade of an ubersaw pressing against his neck. the only thing that truly stopped him from stabbing away was the visage of the red medic.
an all-too familiar face.
grin split pale lips, hands raising in surrender. ah yes, the very familiar face of yet another mercenary he had come to like over the years. normally the woman donned a blue uniform, not the ghastly red that clothed her now.
“miss gallienne.” her name played on his tongue with a hint of affection and humor. “i th-thought you were stationed at borneo.”
ah, the mission had already started. just her damn luck, right? it seemed as though every time she was transferred to a new base, it was always either close to the starting of the mission, or in the middle of it. this left her with little to no time in acquainting herself with her temporary teammates, and that often caused some unnecessary animosity towards her. it wasn’t her fault, honestly. it wasn’t like she wanted to pop in really late. unfortunately, the administrator didn’t like her, and thus no doubt found it quite humorous subjecting her to scowling looks of new mercs.
hell, even if aradia attempted to latch on to one or two people, they always found ways to ditch her by herself. what good is a medic if they didn’t have someone to heal? well, whether it was lucky or not, aradia learned from an acquaintance, the joys of what being a battle medic was all about. these days, until she managed to befriend one or two mercenaries on her team, the woman put to use her weapons, as shitty as they were… today was no different.
none of her teammates even spared a glance in her direction, letting her know they had no intentions of helping her or allowing her to help them. all fine and dandy, she’ll just be over here minding her own business. being alone wasn’t new to her.
as the cries of war rang all across the map, the woman took to exploring it, trying to familiarize herself with the ins and outs. there was an alert on the speakers of the enemy team capturing the point, though she paid no heed to it. it didn’t matter to her whether or not the blu team won. if she came across an enemy, aradia knew how to defend herself well enough. she’d be lying if she said killing didn’t give her a rush, being able to out-play someone bigger or meaner than her. was she becoming just as blood-thirsty as rita?? god she hoped not.
careful maneuvers brought the red medic to what appeared to be a somewhat secluded area void of any life, judging by the splatters of blood along the walls and ground. that is until she heard a faint cry somewhere ahead the way. following the distressed noise, aradia found herself upon a blu mercenary being cornered by one of her own teammates, cowering in a familiar way. ( it wasn’t often that a mercenary of war cowered before an enemy, for everyone was far too proud )
leaning to the side to better catch a glimpse of the unfortunate sap, she recognized the enemy instantly. leonard o’malley. a dear dear friend of hers. as rita always told her, too many times, the best part of the industries is that they allowed team killing. this tidbit had helped aradia in the past, and it was going to help her now. plucking an arrow from her belt, the red medic snuck up on her teammate, pulling red gloves off. being shorter than this merc, she had to hurl herself upon them, digging the tip of the arrow into their exposed neck, blood spurting.
gripping either side of their head as the mercenary stumbled back, aradia used her strength to twist to the side, snapping their neck. both red members collapsed to the ground in front of the trembling blu medic, who could only stare in surprise. it took a moment before aradia heaved herself up off the lifeless body, pulling the arrow out with a nasty sounding ‘shlck’. her attention shifted to her friend, a relieved smile painting both of their faces. aradia started to close the distance between them.
“holy shit, lenny, are you ok? i didn’t know you were stationed here! does that mean talone is here with you as well? i haven’t seen you guys since coldfront.”
before her friend could respond, his eyes widening and flicking to her right shoulder, alerting the woman of an enemy sneaking upon her. the arrow in her hand was dropped, only to be replaced by the ubersaw. pivoting, aradia’s arm flung out, stopping just before the blade could slice the neck of the one behind her.
heterochromia hues blinked in surprise as another familiar voice and face greeted her. one she hadn’t been expecting to see for another long while.
‘miss gallienne’
that assholish smirk the woman had grown accustomed to flashed, causing aradia to lower her weapon. in her lifetime of working for the industries, aradia had to work with a lot of spies, and the majority of them she came to loathe. of course, there were exceptions, though very few. the red spy from teufort was one of them. this blu spy? he was another lucky one to gain her respect.
“hello, sir.” hooking the ubersaw back to her belt, aradia brushed dark locks away from her face, relieved to see another friendly face. “i was just transferred here today, ten or so minutes after the mission started. where you coming to save lenny?” a playful smile graced her lips, hands placed upon hips. “looks like i beat you to it.”
emerald hues shifted this way and that as the medic kept himself pressed flat against the wall. having gotten separated from his soldier, he had to attempt to find a way out of the enemy zone without getting caught. tapping against the communicator in his ear, lenny spoke quickly, and in a hushed voice. “i’m stuck under walkway between one and two in red ba--” the words caught in his throat as footsteps stomped across the metal bridge above him, laughing echoing out. he couldn’t quite make out their uniforms, but at least he could count how many passed by.
“two scouts and a soldier are heading towards mid from their right flank. i repeat--” a cough bubbled, gloved hands covering mouth. he hadn’t been on a map with this much suffocating steam since sulfur. at least that place had natural steam from all the hot water instead of these disgusting tanks. lenny moved slowly, tapping the communicator once more. “please, if anyone is near red base... i’m attempting to move across flank as well. i l-lost my weapons so...”
god he sounded quite pathetic. he had to admit even to himself that he wasn’t exactly cut out for this kind of job. but hey, he managed to survive working for over eleven years, so that counted for something, right? even after all this time, he was still ridiculed as being a wuss with no backbone when it came to fighting. hell, he even got flack from his sister sometimes... it’s not his fault he was born with a passive nature.
as the medic moved in careful movements, praying so hard that someone in his team would run into him. unfortunately, with his luck, lenny ran into an enemy instead. how did he know? because there had come a quite violent shove from the back, forcing the man forward, stumbling until he fell to his hands and knees. whipping around, lenny’s eyes widened at the visage of a soldier clad in red. was it the one he had seen pass by just minutes before?? it didn’t matter.
“n...no please...” there was an awkward pause from the other, allowing lenny to start half crab walking backwards, palms sliding against the floor in a rapid manner. back hit the wall, the medic watching as a sadist grin split the lips of the soldier, feeling himself shake his own head in denial. he hated fighting, and to be honest it would probably be a lot easier to let this man kill him and send him to respawn. however judging by that wicked smile, lenny had a feeling it would take a while for him to reach respawn. no doubt torture was in store.
he’ll have to fight as best he could... keeping his gaze glued to the soldier, lenny pushed himself to his feet, though his body still trembled. yanking the ubersaw from the belt, it was raised, sharp end pointed towards the man in red. by now, everyone on both teams knew lenny was the worst fighter, so the soldier was about to have a field day. that is, until an arrow was suddenly buried right into his neck.
“wha--” the soldier’s word turned into a surprised gurgle, hulking body stepping back. his helmet fell, allowing his attacker to grab his head and twist, earning a sickening crack to ring out. the man’s body collapsed to the ground along with the one who had just taken his life.
despite not knowing who had just saved him, an incredibly heavy sigh of relief escaped lenny’s lips, allowing him to lower his own weapon. when a woman’s voice asked him if he was ok, the medic snapped his gaze up, jaw dropping. the familiar face of his long time friend appeared in front of him, looking equally relieved. his gaze swept up and down, noting that she was wearing the colors of the red team. this shocked him, as she had just voluntarily killed her own teammate.
then again, it was to save him, and lenny knew that aradia would kill just about anyone and anything to ensure his safety. apparently this also meant even if she was now on the enemy team. hopefully no cameras caught that... just as he was about to respond to her inquiries about talone, a shadow appeared behind her, along with a glint of a sharp knife. lenny’s eyes widened, darting to the figure creeping up on aradia. thankfully, it didn’t end in a bloodbath again.
with a matter of seconds, aradia had her saw against the throat of their other friend ( though perhaps that was a word used loosely considering they still knew nothing about him other than his ‘name’ being sir ). he watched their familiar exchange, heart beating quite hard against his chest. yes, it was a shocker, but once again, lenny felt such relief that two of his friends had appeared to save him.
“sir~” lenny acknowledged the spy with a sheepish smile. the mysterious man had come to his rescue plenty of times ever since lenny transferred to this base a couple months ago. attention flitting to the red medic, he finally noticed why she looked so different. “ara, you cut your hair?”
