In Need of Assistance? (TF2)

Seventy-One: Ruins

        The armbands feel weird. I put them over the sleeves of my trench coat. Seeing how elated Salvador was to have seen them on me was the only reason.

Before I left, I fibbed a bit and told everyone I forgot something in my apartment when we were out by the car. Really, I went back up to tell Baron that he could use the shower and the washing machine if he needed. I'm not sure what to do with or about him just yet, but I have to be hospitable to dissuade him from killing Medic. The height of his eyebrows on his face as I offered things from the fridge to him told me all I needed to hear.

He hasn't been treated like a human being in a long while, and me offering him necessities was as if I was speaking to him in an entirely different language... Although, I'm doing that, too. It's still too early to tell anyone else about Baron. Their first instinct would be to shoot him, which is a completely avoidable situation. Baron is an enigma, and I plan to figure him out on my own.

"Helen plans to bulldoze all'uh this and build another facility on top of it," Engie starts up as I stand next to him digging around in the van's trunk. I hold his hardhat with a mining light on it before kicking the teleporter between us to make it build faster. "Squatters are gettin' in the way of that. We're here to get 'em to leave, offer Fortress jobs and accommodations."

"That feels a little shitty."

"I'm a murderer, Mona, I don't think it matters much." Everything's hazy. A veil of bleached grey lays over my vision. Bleak and dry, small dust plumes pick up and settle elsewhere. Ash and soot outline our footsteps and tire tracks. My origins lay behind me. Engie slams the door shut and secures a pistol to his belt before picking up his toolbox. "Darlin'--"

"I'm fine," I answer him before he even asks. He frowns, and I counter-act it with a gentle smile as I put his hat on his head. "Don't worry about me, Honeybee." He sniggers, a smirk with that slightly crooked jaw of his. Engie's a fan of pet names. Nicknames- or really just anything that's not the name I hand out to others. It's a special thing to him, exclusive as the only person who's allowed to call me by those names.

"Alright, let's get to gettin'," he announces. He makes his way over to Alpha's truck where she's letting coyotes out of cages. She brought three of them, two of them looking older than the one. She puts them in harnesses and attaches a leash to all three. She tugs gently to get them under control as they sniff around and start pulling.

"Yeah... I'm more of a 'hunt and kill' kinda bitch, this is Harmon's thing."

"He and Bethesda are retired, I can't bother an old man and dog like that." He sighs. "Long as they don't do the killing part."

Alpha grunts and whistles to grab their attention before giving Engie a scowl. "Don't count any eggs." Salvador and Tuesday stand near the chain-link fence, looking in at the cinders. I stand with them. The train tracks aren't too far off. Tripping over my feet, red marks on my wrist. Soldier was the only person I could cling to.

"Spy!" His voice breaks my thoughts, and I turn around. He, Demo, and Pyro emerge from the bread van. He points at me, baring his teeth. "Why are we associating with a spy?"

"Knock it off," Engie aggressively goes against Soldier as opposed to the timid demeanor he typically takes up with him. "We're here to work, so that's what we're gonna go and do." He takes his glove off and shoves it into his back pocket, Gunslinger on full display as he grabs hold of the metal wires arranged as a diamond. There's already a hole, just wide enough for two smaller people to fit through. "I don't wanna hear no whining," he grunts as he yanks. "I don't wanna hear no yappin'." Yank. "No cursing, no nothing." He tears the sheet from the pole and widens the space so we don't have to squeeze in. He makes a fist. "Am I clear?"