Team Fortress 2 Headcanons

It was a simple job. Blow the building up and leave.

That was the thought that plagues Miss Pauling’s mind as she rides herscooter towards ground zero. In the distance all the young woman could see wasash and dust.

 But slowly approaching where Mann Co once stood it’s the sounds that wouldscar her.

 Walking through rubble and bodies all she could hear were the whimpersof survivors, the screams of the dying and yelling of those buried underconcrete.

 It sent a chill down her spine, to think her friends were caught in theexplosion.

 Going deeper into the impact zone all the woman could do was try to yellout, seeing was impossible, her glasses covered in dust.

 But what caught her attention was the movement in the distance. A childlike figure in the distance, slowly rocking back and forth.

 Again and again she yelled out towards the figure.Nothing.

A sigh escapes her lips as she pulls out a small pistol and approachesthe child.

 It’s only a few meters when she realizes it’s Scout.

The young man is sitting in filth, knees pressed tightly to his chest,one arm over his head and sucking his thumb.

But his eyes are something she will never forget, bloodshotand withtears pupils wide.

Miss Pauling can tell he hasn’t moved in ages, the ash that layers hisbody is perfectly level.

 She gets down to his level and starts to interrogate him.

 “Where are the others??”

 Silence.

 “What happened??”

 Silence

 “Why didn’t you leave??”

 Silence.

Scout just looks through her and with a shaky hand points towards theother members of the team, then goes on to slowly sob.

Miss Pauling moves on leaving Scout in a mess of blood and ash.

Finally she sees the rest of the mercs.

Pyro is laying on the ground looking at the falling ash, at timesputting their hand out to catch it.

Engineer is off to the side of the main group his small area he has madeup for himself is covered in vomit and blood.

For once Miss Pauling sees Soldier silent, the man holding his helmet tohis chest as if he was mourning a death.  

Heavy is speaking softly to Medic trying to convince the man to stop. Tostop performing CPR on the body of a little girl all men now know as OliviaMann.

Heavy is begging, telling Medic, that she is dead, that all her ribs arebroken. Even if they could revive her she would be brain dead.

Spy is overlooking the resuscitation, eyes focused solely on the younggirl helping Medic keep count.

Miss Pauling notes that Demoman and Sniper are nowhere to be seen. 

She breaks the silence.

“What happened??”

None of the men answer her question. All act as if they are stuck intheir own world. This isn’t good enough she needs answers now.

She grabs Soldier from his shoulders giving them a tight squeeze.

“Solider, please what happened here??”

For a split second the man says nothing, his eyes darting from the bodyof the girl to Pauling, in a few worlds explains.

“Followed the plan, discovered innocents inside and failed to disarm thebombs.”

And there it was. The reason the mercs where torn up, why they didn’tleave. As much as they put on the persona of harden mercenary,they would never let innocents die for a cause.

As much as Miss Pauling wanted mourn the loss. She had a job to do, getthese men out of here before being arrested for domestic terrorism.

“We have to leave now”

For thefirst time Miss Pauling felt panic rise in her chest.

“No”

It was Engineer who spoke up looking Miss Pauling dead in the eyes.

“We not going without Demo and Sniper”

“We don’t have time to discuss this; we can find their bodies later.”

Engineer looked away his face filled with disgust. Kicking the dirt torelease the built up angry.

“Would you do that to me??”

It was Scout, the man had dragged himself back to the others, toregroup. He had expected Miss Pauling to help search for Demo and Sniper.Instead she was going to leave them for dead.

He repeated himself. “Would you do that to me??”

 “Yes”

Miss Pauling didn’t even think, she would leave him, or any members ofthe team behind to save the others. Doesn’t mean she won’t feel bad after. Itall comes down to the needs of the many.

Scout was about to open his mouth again when he was cut off by Medicscreeching.

Heavy had dragged the man away from Olivia, deciding enough was enough.

Standing his ground Heavy took the abuse of the Doctor the yellingpunching and scratching.

Finally placing the Medic in a bear hug, as all the doctor could do wassob.

Finally Soldier moved again approached the young girl, placed her armsover her chest. Kneeling the man whispered to her.

All Miss Pauling could make out was an “I’m sorry” and maybe a prayer??

The touching words that Miss Pauling was trying to make out where fadedout by yelling in the distance. That was quickly approaching the group.

She pointed the pistol towards the voice, out of the ash steppedDemoman. Broken bottle of scrumpy in his hands, covered in ash and gunpowder.Demoman pushed pass Miss Pauling and made his way to Olivia. Slowly getting tohis knees he cried over her body.

The words “I’m sorry” and “my fault” where repeated.

It was his bombs that killed the young girl, his talent that got herkilled.

Spy approached the mumbling man.

“Demoman listen to me closely, have you seen Sniper??”

It was the mention of Sniper that Demoman froze on the spot.

“I’ve never seen him so angry”

“So he’s alive??”

“He said he’ll find us, after he finishes looking”

Miss Pauling steps in.

“What is he looking for Demo??”

“Papers” Demoman’s eyes go wide, “evidence”.

Miss Pauling’s voice cracks

“We have to leave now”

 Her wish goes ignored.

Spy looks at Miss Pauling, eyes burning into her skull.

 “Why did this building have to come down??”

 “I - I can’t tell you”

“Then tell me”

 Sniper appears from almost nowhere, holding burnt files. He continueshis speech, while handing out paperwork to his team.

 “This building came down to make the CEO’s death look like an accident.”

 “CEO??” Heavy speaks up.

 Sniper says nothing instead gestures to the little girl.

 Scout whispers softly to himself.

 “She was the CEO??”

 Spy fills in the blanks for the others.

 “Saxton Hale lost his company to Gray Mann, placing Olivia Mann incharge. The only way he would have gotten the business back is if he beat herin a boxing match… or by death”

All eyes are on Pauling, demanding answers, reasons for all themeaningless death.

“It was necessary” she explains.   

The men step in closer, surrounding her.

“With Grey Mann in charge they would have cut our partnership with TFIndustries, lots of money would have been lost. It’s what the Administratorwanted.”

The calm personality of the Engineer was gone, his voice on edge.

“We justtook out a tower, full of innocents. For money??”

Miss Pauling was trying to stay calm, keep things under control.

“Gray Co didn’t give us much of a choice; we repeatedly asked to come toan agreement.”

Heavy interjected.

“They said no, we respond by blowing up building. What happened to us?”

“Nothing happened to us” Miss Pauling snaps back “We are mercenaries”

That was the finally statement that pushed Sniper’s controlled angryover the edge.

“You turnedus into FUCKING KILLERS!”

 For allthe killing the mercs had done is their life, killing children was alwayssomething they always avoided. They were hired guns, not serial killers, notmad men.

The rageof the team was fuming; Pauling could feel the atmosphere tighten as theSnipers words echoed around them.

 “This isn’t my fault…”

The words barely more than a whisperslipped from her mouth. A phrase said more for her sake then the teams.

But the Medic had heard it.

With a screech the man had started toyell

“That’s not good enough. You fucked us.Fucked everybody. No… Everything… all this… it’s YOUR fault!”

If it wasn’t for Heavy holding theGerman back Pauling was sure that she would have been dead.

“What happened herewas out of my control.” She was arguing back, deep down she knew she doesn’tneed to justify any of this to the mercs.

“Was it?”

Spy asked.His voice calm.

“None of this would’vehappened if you’d told her no.”

That was the tippingpoint for the woman. All the anger, tension, hatred that was being thrown inher directional finally came out.

“You have no idea whatit’s like to work for her! She simply doesn’t take no as an answer, do youthink I wanted this!?”

A softquestion breaks the silence.

“Was itworth it?” Scout looks at Pauling in the eyes, he doesn’t move, just stares ashe wait for his answer.

ShamefullyPauling looks at the ground, then to the body of the young girl. She whimpersher answer out.

“Yes”

A sarcasticlaugh comes from Sniper.

“Collateral damage can be justified, if the gainoutweighs the cost. Isn’t that right Miss Pauling?”

A sighescapes her lips.

The silenceis her answer.

It can bejustified.

“I quit”

Heavy hadheard enough, Sniper was right. They had limits and morals they followed. Thisbroke every single one of them. Slowly Heavy walked away from the scene.Followed by Medic who simply waved a dismissive hand.

One by oneeach member of Team Fortress walked away.

Leavingonly Miss Pauling and Spy.

“It had tobe done Spy, you understand that??”

A pause.

“No matterwhat happens next, don’t be too hard on yourself.”

With hisfinally words, Spy left.  Leaving MissPauling alone.

This is the worst thing I have ever written. I just wanted it out of my WIP folder.

It was a simple job. Blow the building up and leave.

That was the thought that plages Miss Pauling's mind as she rode her scooter towards ground zero. In the distance all the young woman could see was ash and dust. But slowly approaching where Mann Co once stood it’s the sounds that would scar her.

Walking through rubble and bodies all she could hear were the whimpers of survivors, the screams of the dying and yelling of those buried under concrete.

It sent a chill down her spine, to think her friends were caught in the explosion.

Going deeper into the impact zone all the woman could do was try to yell out, seeing was impossible, her glasses covered in dust.

But what caught her attention was movement in the distance. A child like figure rocking back and forth.

Again and again she yelled out towards the figure.