Chapter Text
It was done.
Somehow, these clowns had managed to bring down a team of super-powered cyborg mercenaries, hordes of robots, and the old Gray menace himself. Enemy’s bodies, both human and not, littered the ground, stood over by a ragtag bunch of criminals and illiterates.
And Ms. Pauling was proud . To be fair, she was much too exhausted to feel any other emotions that their battle had caused right now: dumbfounded, mildly afraid, melancholic- the list continued. She ran a hand through her matted hair, the rising sun bathing her battered body in welcoming heat. Pauling dropped to her knees, closing her eyes and smiling.
Surely… surely.. She could rest for just a moment…
…
“Hey-hey, Ms. Paulin’!”
… fuck.
She grunted, opening her eyes, and was greeted by none other than Scout.
“You good?” He asked, tilting his head.
Of course I’m not good, you stupid piece of-
“Yeah, yeah, I’m just tired, is all-” She sighed, standing up again. “-what’s up?”
“Uhhh….” He obviously hadn’t thought their conversation that far through. “Did you
see
me out dere? I was killin’ and punchin’ and BAM! BAP! And all dat.”
“Yes, I did see you, until you went missing and came back with Spy and Sniper- what were you even doing?”
Get him talking, and then zone out. It always works,
she thought.
“Oh!!! I was DESTROYIN’ these robots, yeah? And-and den Snipes and Spy came!! And den-”
That’s it, keep blathering.
Pauling closed her eyes, breathing deeply.
“And den Tom Jones told me dat he was my dad-”
In, out. In, ou- TOM JONES?!
“What?!”
Pauling was fully conscious once more. She looked Scout up and down as he continued his tale, looking for any signs of sarcasm. Instead, she finally spotted the makeshift bandage around his waist, and the rather worrying amount of blood flowing from it-
“Scout, you’re bleeding!”
“Bleedin’? Oh yeah, I am! I was just gettin’ to dat part-”
“Don’t- don’t move too much! Stay there, I’ll go find Medic, ‘mkay?”
Before he could explain, Ms. Pauling was off, searching for the team doctor. Through piles of robot scrap she searched, but Medic was nowhere to be seen. Come to think of it, she hadn’t heard the cheery german’s voice since she was rudely brought back to life by him.
Maybe she should try yelling his name like the others do? Ooh, she’d always wanted to try that out- Pauling cleared her throat with a he hem .
“MEDI-”
“That won’t do much, I am afraid.” Spy stepped out of the shadows, offering a smile to his purple-clad friend.
“Oh! Spy! Do you know- Wait, you’re bleeding too! Spy, your leg!!”
“Congrats, you noticed. Do not worry for me-”
“Where IS that fucking doctor?! Rrrgh, he hasn’t gone off with another team of people who want to hunt us down, has he?!”
“Pauling.” Spy placed a hand on her shoulder, moving his cigarette to the side of his mouth. “Slow down, you’re getting worked up.”
She sighed. Spy was correct. As he was most of the time. “Right. Thanks. Do you know where he is? Medic?”
“I have... a hunch.”
“Yeah?”
“Follow me.”
–
God, the sun was hot. It wasn’t comforting anymore, it was now an annoyance, reflecting off metal and getting in her eyes. Ms. Pauling was following Spy up a pile of defective robots, in awe of how gracefully he ascended them. They were rather high up. From the scrap heap, Pauling could see most of the mercenaries, as well as her employers and Zhanna, who was thankfully clothed now. Apart from Medic, of course, and… Heavy. Oh dear, maybe she should leave the two be for a while- they needed to relieve battle tension somehow.
Spy must have seen the look on Pauling’s face and snorted. “You must cut back on the romance novels, ma puce . No, reality is a lot worse. Look-”
What on earth is a puce?! Probably an insult. Whatever. Pauling turned to see where her employee pointed, to spot Heavy.
He hadn’t moved away from the spot where he killed the Classic Heavy, having instead knelt down, holding his head in his hands. She was too far away to tell, but he could have been crying? The giant man’s entire body was trembling. What ungodly thing could move such a powerful force to tears? Oh, and more importantly-
“So you brought me all the way up here to watch Heavy crying?” She squinted at Spy.
“...Not quite. Think about it.
Why
would he be so sad?”
“I…. hm. His Sasha could be broken- no, it’s all in one piece, I saw it just before, Soldier was fiddling with it. Maybe he’s sad about Zhanna’s arm…?”
“Maybe. But he was fine about it before,
non
? When he first arrived.”
“Spy, why are we up here anyway?! I wanted to find Medic, what’s Heavy got to do with things- Wait.”
“Ah, the cogs are turning in your head now!”
“But, why would he be so sad about Medic? Unless, of course-”
And then the dread hit her. Pauling’s body suddenly became unbearably cold, and her chest went tight. She looked past Heavy, and over a busted fence-
There.
Medic lay limp in a pool of red, his crisp white overcoat stained. There was no signs of movement. But… he
can’t
be dead! Nobody else knows a rat’s ass about medicine, how will they get out of here?
“Spy-”
“I… can organise a grave.” The frenchman sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “He was a good man, even if he was rather… insane.”
“No, Spy, this
can’t
be it. Medic can’t just
die!
He doesn’t do that! He’s- I- no, we have to be able to do something! Maybe he’s still alive! Come on, it can’t be the end!”
Pauling descended the scrap heap with alarming speed, and Spy had no choice but to follow. Her head raced as she rounded up whatever she could of the team, simply telling them to
follow her
, and she began to approach the battlefield.
Surely they could fix him, right…?