Chapter Text
Going through each of his teammates’ belongings was necessary, of course, but it was also a pleasure. Spy had left the one he was most interested in for last, as a treat: Engineer’s workshop. He sighed happily as he picked the lock, pleased at the level of security—a lock that was too simple would have made him suspicious, and he wouldn’t have put it past Engineer. This one was a bit of a struggle, but well within his capabilities. He flowed into the workshop and shut the door behind him, all but rubbing his hands together at the thought of what he might find inside—blueprints, contraptions, perhaps even relics from the Engineer’s illustrious grandfather.
Engineer was hunched over the washing machine, frowning at the damn thing that had been fine just this morning. An alarm went off on his PDA, and he scowled at it. Someone had just bypassed his security system and was in his workshop. Shutting his toolbox, he headed back to his little sanctuary to deal with the intrusion, wrench held loosely in his organic hand.
The workshop was what Spy had expected, given his short acquaintance with Engineer: tidy, well-swept, with everything hung neatly on hooks, the outline of what belonged there painted behind it. “A place for everything, and everything in its place. How predictable.” Spy briefly contemplated the idea of moving everything on the counters a few centimeters out of place, but this visit was purely for reconnaissance. Amusement could come later, and he couldn’t be certain how long Engineer would remain distracted by the relatively simple problem of a broken washing machine.
On reaching his door, he punched in his code and shut the door behind him, locking it securely. “You here for a lesson, boy?” he called. He hadn’t spotted anyone yet, but his lights were on. Nothing seemed to have moved. But his system was perfect, he knew there was someone here.
Spy’s eyes widened, and he immediately cloaked. Merde. That had taken even less time than he’d calculated. Getting past Engineer and out of the workshop would be a challenge—but then, he welcomed challenges.
Wrench still held at his side, the Texan stood quietly by the door and listened. “I’m gonna show you what my daddy taught me to do to Spies,” he chuckled, turning off the light. He knew his workshop like the back of his hand. Spy was going to have to work to stay quiet in the dark.
Damn the man’s voice; it went straight to Spy’s groin, and him saying things like that certainly didn’t help. He could imagine all sorts of lovely—and perverse—things for Engineer to do to him, though not (hopefully) things his daddy had taught him. Spy froze when the lights went out. Moving very carefully, he knelt and untied his shoes. He hated ruining a perfectly good pair of socks, but not nearly as much as he hated being caught.
There were some minute noises that didn’t belong. The soft beep of one of his sentries shoulda been the only thing he was hearing. Damn that Spy, having him here, in his space, made Engineer’s blood boil. Still, deadly calm was a better solution than losing his head and losing his prey. It sounded to him like Spy was on the other side of his worktable, probably crouched and most likely cloaked. He stepped onto the bench, and then onto the table, knowing he could be seen and heard by the man below him.
Despite himself, knowing he was cloaked, Spy shivered. It looked as though Engineer were looking directly at him in the dim light. He’d planned on tying his shoes around his neck, both so he could keep them and so they wouldn’t appear once he’d moved too far away to cloak them, but Engineer had gotten too close too quickly, and he already knew who the interloper was. Barely breathing, though his heart was racing with excitement, Spy took a moment to assess the situation. Engineer had carefully kept himself between Spy and the door, severely limiting Spy’s options. He sidled sideways, ducking beneath the workbench; it would limit the number of directions Engineer could come at him from, and what could be done to him.
Engineer smiled when he realized where Spy had chosen to go. Now he knew where to expect him to come out. Now, he was not a graceful man, nor particularly fast, but he knew when he’d set a trap good and proper. Spy would be heading for the door, he’d come out going for it. He took the cord off his belt and looped it quickly, dropping the wrench onto the table in favour of what was turning into a nice little lasso.
Rather than emerging on the side closest to the door, which Engineer would of course be expecting, Spy rolled out from beneath one side of the table.
Rolling meant making more noise than crawling. Engineer swung the lasso twice before tossing it at his target. Going just off auditory cues was harder, but certainly he’d had enough practice to do it. As soon as he felt a tug, Engineer pulled as hard as he could and laughed when he heard Spy choke.
Spy was taken completely unaware. By the time he heard the swoosh of the cord and tried to avoid it, the lasso had settled around his neck. He was jerked backwards, falling flat on his back, too shocked to soften his landing in any way. He lay there, a little stunned, gloved fingers clawing at the cable. He was breathing too fast, too hard; he hadn’t been captured this effectively in a very long time, and he was unused to the feeling of utter, helpless terror that sped his pulse and brought beads of sweat to his masked forehead.
Engineer stepped down from his workbench, fingers still tight around the cord. He pulled himself to the still cloaked Spy and put a boot on the man’s chest, not far below where the cord was biting into him. “Uncloak yourself, rat,” he sneered, “I think it’s about time we talked.”
There were moments to resist, and moments to cooperate—at least momentarily. This was definitely one of the latter moments. Forcing his hand away from the cable, Spy reached into his suit pocket—which was fortunately not pinned beneath the heavy boot—and pulled out his cigarette case. A touch of a button later, and he was revealed in a puff of acrid smoke. He arched his head back as far as it would go, straining for air.
“You look a mite uncomfortable,” Engineer leaned down, resting his forearm on his knee. “D’you think you might know why that is?”
Spy gasped, feebly reaching up to tug on the cuff of Engineer’s overalls. He couldn’t get nearly enough air to respond.
With a few quick loops, Engineer fashioned some cuffs for Spy, keeping his skinny wrists tied tightly together. A gentle tug loosened the cord from around his neck, allowing the Frenchman to breathe. He sat himself down on his bench, one boot still on Spy’s chest. “You best start talkin’.”
For a few moments, all Spy could do was gasp—and plan his next move, of course. He was quite certain it wouldn’t work, but he had to try. “This…isn’t the way to the infirmary?” He was pleased by how steady his voice emerged.
“I wonder how easy I could crush your ribs?” Engineer asked, voice cold. The heel of his boot found a gap between two ribs and pressed down hard.
Spy gasped, allowing his eyes and mouth to widen in fear and pain. Letting Engineer think he’d affected him couldn’t hurt at this point. “I suspected you wouldn’t fall for that, mon ami. We seem to have gotten off to a poor start. After all, we are on the same team. Perhaps we could start over?” He gave his most winning—with a heavy dash of flirtation—smile, squirming a little against the bonds, offering them up. “We are both reasonable men. I am sorry to have intruded in your space. Habit, you know?”
“Bad habit to have around me, boy,” he scowled, boot still digging into Spy’s ribs. “I ain’t about to let you go, damn snake. And I ain’t about to fall for some backstabber’s idea of flirtation either.” He turned on the lamp hanging over his worktable, lighting him from behind. “So either I hear the honest truth about what you were lookin’ for here, or I send you off to respawn as slow as I know how and teach you a valuable lesson about respect.”
Being aroused and terrified at the same time was not exactly a new sensation for Spy, but it was still an odd one. He’d known, of course, that Engineer had to be lethal in battle—otherwise he wouldn’t be here—but he’d assumed the man relied on his machines. Now, suddenly, the chubby, amusing little Texan had turned menacing. Spy blinked in the sudden light, groaning as the heel dug deeper into his torso. His mind was racing—he had very good instincts when it came to telling someone’s sexual orientation, and they were telling him in no uncertain terms where Engineer’s preferences lay. Spy was a very handsome man, capable of becoming whatever a lover desired. It was extremely rare for his flirtation to fall so completely flat. “Very well; the honest truth.” There was little harm in this particular confession; his purpose wasn’t exactly difficult to discern. “I am here to go through your things, learn what I can about you. Just as I have for the rest of our teammates,” he pointed out, making it clear he hadn’t singled Engineer out for special attention. “Rest assured, our enemies will be getting the same treatment.”
“And you thought, for some reason, that this particular game of yours would be well received?” Engineer demanded. “Y’know, I’ve been real polite. Kind, even. I ain’t said a word against you til now. But I ain’t about to tolerate you violatin’ my privacy.” Here he paused and his goggles flashed as he looked down at Spy. “Am I bein’ understood?”
“I didn’t intend to be caught,” Spy said, making a wry face. Engineer seemed like the sort of man to appreciate honesty, so Spy supplied him with it. “I understand perfectly. Now, if you wouldn’t mind?” He wiggled his bound hands again.
“You won’t be in here again without my permission.”
“Certainly not.” Spy had a sinking feeling that Engineer wouldn’t believe him. And rightly so, of course. He had no intention of keeping that promise. If threats had ever been a deterrent to Spy, he wouldn’t have been here in the first place. That Engineer was so protective of his space only made Spy more interested in what he might be keeping there.
The Texan chuckled quietly. “If you weren’t my teammate, and hooked up to respawn, I’d kill you and leave it at that.” He shifted his boot down to Spy’s groin and pressed his heel down hard. Once he knew Spy’s eyes were on him, he took off his bulky glove, revealing a massive metal hand in the place of a flesh and blood one. “Seein’ as we’re gonna have to work together, and killin’ you ain’t much of a threat, I’ll make this more personal. If I ever catch you in here again, Medic and I’ll be havin’ a nice talk about whether or not castratin’ you might be the best thing for this team.”
Spy groaned, frantically throwing his legs together in an effort to protect his sensitive—and rapidly softening—groin. His eyes widened at the sight of the metal monstrosity beneath the glove, and he swallowed, hard. There had been no mention of…that…in any of the information he’d been able to find about the Texan. Spy nodded, his mouth too dry to speak. He had been caught easily this time, he could admit that to himself. Next time…he would simply have to be more careful, though he hoped that thought didn’t show in his eyes. “Oui,” he squeaked, forcing himself into a half-sitting position as he tried to scramble away. “I—I understand.” He also suspected that Medic would enjoy that particular procedure a great deal. Without anesthetic. With very little prompting on Engineer’s part.
“I’m glad we understand each other,” he hissed, smile widening. He stood, removing his boot from Spy’s groin and moving it to his neck. With one quick, hard motion, he broke the man’s neck, sending him to respawn nearly instantaneously.
Spy didn’t even have time to scream before the world twisted and he was flying while lying completely still. Everything was darkness and light and memory, a screaming void of utter silence. He awoke in the respawn room, which he hadn’t yet visited. Battle didn’t officially begin for two days, and he was glad his employers had foreseen the need to turn the system on ahead of time. They must have assumed, rightly, that putting nine touchy, paranoid mercenaries together would lead to at least a few deaths. He collapsed to his knees, retching, though of course his stomach was empty. After several minutes of wishing he was dead for real, he staggered to his feet. He was—impossibly, improbably, maddeningly—still erect. Or erect again? He’d heard of men getting erections when their necks were broken, but this was simply absurd. He wasn’t even in the same body! At least, he didn’t think so. One thing was certain—he would explore the Engineer’s workshop. After all, he supposed, even if he were castrated, all he had to do was respawn (as unappealing as that prospect was, especially with it so fresh in his memory) and he would be intact. “This game is far from over,” he muttered beneath his breath, tapping a cigarette out of his case and lighting it with trembling hands as he exited the room.
******
That evening Engineer updated his security system- as well as the washing machine. He knew that damn Spy wouldn’t be able to help himself. It made his fingers itch for a gun and the back of his neck prickle with paranoia. He’d stop in the middle of his work often to listen, and he started tweaking his mini-sentry to try and pick up his own teammates - not to kill them, necessarily, but to turn and beep at them at least. He itched to get his hands on Spy’s cloaking technology, just so he could take it apart and calibrate his own machines to find it. He wanted to know how it worked and so far, he’d come up with nothing. His attempts to build them had so far 1) exploded, 2) cloaked only itself and its battery and 3) mildly electrocuted him. Feeling more and more grumpy about the whole thing, he kept tinkering.
Spy, tucked cozily into his hidden nest—he was far too paranoid to sleep in his assigned room—smoked and thought, a smile crossing his lips as he imagined what Engineer was probably doing at that moment. If he expected Spy to return that night, he would be dreadfully disappointed, but letting him tire himself out suited Spy. His first expedition had been far from a rousing success, but he’d learned plenty about his opponent, and that was more valuable in the long run. Here, in this deathless place, he could afford to be patient and think about the long game. Next time, he would be better prepared.