The Gold of the Firepines

Your Gold [of the Firepines] (Part 2)/Mailman's Final Log

"You have got to be kidding me-!" Spy hissed, still ducking, his back not ready to straighten after that sudden movement.
"You're the Spy. I thought you would have been more prepared." You spoke a bit cool-toned.

"All this to uh...chat?" Engie said, knocking the cage. "Bit excessive, wouldn't you say..?"

You hummed and shrugged. "No, not really. Anyway-"
Moving along, "How are you going to use the gold and how much of it would be used?" You asked, not dancing around the point.

"Did ye have to close the cage as I'm bent near Spy's arse?!" Demoman complained.
"You guys realize it is large enough for you not to crouch."
Engineer, Spy, and Demoman all looked around at the same time this was said and almost comically quickly straightened up, Engineer accidentally whacking the side of the cage, but cases like this is why he wore a hardhat.

You could feel Heavy and Pyro's questioning gaze at you; questioning 'why are you doing this?' but you weren't going to address it. Truth is, you weren't too sure why, but it did make you feel better having them separated from your treasure. You'd feel better if Heavy was in there too, but details. At least he was not wild enough to try and take it.
You didn't want Pyro in there because...call it bias, but you didn't think Pyro deserved that. They seemed like a sweet little maniac.

"My question..." You readdressed with a slight hand movement egging them back to it.

"How we're usin' the Australium-?" Engineer asked to make sure he was on-track, but was then promptly interrupted.
"I say we do not respond until the 'civil' portion of this conversation is met." Spy glared at you.

You huffed a little. "Oh come on-"
"You stuck them in a cage." Heavy defended.
"Circumstances of the conversation don't have to be civil for the conversation itself to be civil..!"
Pyro gave a mumbled addition to your words.
"Exactly! The longer you debate this, the longer you're going to stay in there." You repeated. Were you sure that was what Pyro said? Absolutely not, but you could pretend.

With that, Engineer was no longer interrupted. "We can use the Australium to build a transporter and get back to base in Teufort. We can bring you home, Mailmix."

Home...that was something you hadn't thought about in a while. The way your door had a weird creak when opening, how your feet felt on the old tile, that particular smell of 'home' and not pine-
"And what if I don't want to go home?"

Silence hung in the air for a couple seconds.
"You...what?" Heavy looked at you puzzled.
Demoman gave a mini uproar from his position. "What do ye mean 'don't want to go home-' Oh hell no! I have been weeks without my liver's sustainin' sustenance to make things right and get ye back to where ye belong..! Like hell ye ain't comin' back!"
Pyro grabbed your arm and shook it a little bit and this time you could clearly make out the 'you have to come back with us' plea in their muttered voice.

"I don't have to go back." You spat out a little harshly...harsher than you meant actually, considering they had spent all that time trying to get to you.
"Besides you guys - well, some of you - I don't have anyone over there who actually appreciates me. I'm just some cheap college drop-out living in a quite literal dump of a town because that's the only place I can make it-! My job is thankless, I live off of dollar store frozen food- sometimes gas station meals if I'm feeling extra- and quite frankly, the people over there are too off-their-rockers to know I'm even gone! I'm locked in the same cycle everyday over there- this...this experience has freed me." You explained, or rather, 'went off.'

"I don't have to follow routine, I don't have to follow rules- as loose as they already were. I have energy- I'm fighting for my life and I feel alive because of it." You tended to reason in your mind instead of outloud, but you didn't hold back.
"You guys wouldn't get that...or maybe you would. I don't know what illegal shit you're doing, but it got me in this position and...actually, I don't regret it. Not a bit." You concluded your mini-monologue and crossed your arms, leaning back on the stone couch.

"...You have lost your mind." Spy spoke, though in a near whisper.
"Yeah, well...I was living in Teufort. Try reasoning with that."

Things seemed to get really quiet after all that was said. Maybe you hit some nerves? Went into too much detail? You couldn't tell; you only spoke the truth, venty as some of it was. Maybe they would finally understand your perspective.
Very slowly in the silence, Pyro reached for your hand. You noticed their movement before they took it and looked over to meet their eyes; as much of their eyes as you could meet, given the mask was a factor.

As you stared, you couldn't seem to look away from the lenses...for a covered face, you had never felt so much radiated expression. Their rubber glove touched your hand; it wasn't until then that you realized just how calloused the hand had become.

Or how you had become.
Something was so different and unsettling about the face reflecting back from the mirrored lenses.

There were three muffled syllables of three very oddly persuasive words spoken in reply to all of your words...It sounded like 'please don't go' or 'don't leave us' - either way, you knew they said 'don't.'

It left you speechless.

"Y/n."
Your name spoken by the large man next to you taking up most of the couch is what finally got you to look away from Pyro.
"You may feel free out here, but this is not healthy for the mind." Heavy said. "We want to bring you back where you will be safe and healthier."

"The 'healthier' portion is debatable." Spy muttered loud enough to be heard. "Teufort being healthy, that is. But yes, you deserve to be safe and appreciated at minimum; not living like some rabies ridden animal on crack."

"An' if you think you'll be better off somewhere else, let's look for somewhere better! We can help you out a bit. You could make it real good in a much cleaner area like...Albuquerque or somethin'- It ain't all that expensive over there either..!" Engineer chimed. "Let's find you somewhere you'll be happy, Mailmix."

Demoman came up to the front of the cage, squishing himself between Spy and Engineer. "Actually, while we're bein' mushy: I'm sorry I ratted ye out to Paulin'- really. It's been weighin' on me; snitches get bitches an' all that- wait...stitches get snitches...stitched bitches-"
"You what-?" You blinked, finally speaking up again.

"Look, Mailmix-" Engineer yanked your attention back as Spy moved promptly away from Demoman. "The point is, you can feel free an' not be livin' out here. You don't need this Australium to be happy, so let's use it to bust outta here and make things better..!"

That sounded very convincing now, after everything...it made sense- you were wondering why you were even acting as you were. There was a lot of confusion and mixed feelings about your actions, even if they came off strong.

What was that Australium doing to you..?

You looked back over to your found pile of golden shreds one more time...
You knew you didn't need it...looking back on it now, it wasn't even that shiny. Sure, it would have been nice if you could have gotten filthy rich out of it, but how luxurious would a big mansion with one person be anyway? (Probably very luxurious, let's be honest) But this could serve a better purpose than luxury or a dormant pile of treasure in the middle-of-nowhere; a better or at least more humble one.
"Mailman's Final Log...somethings are more valuable than riches. Even if that sounds like something coming out of a Disney sitcom..." You sighed.

"I think we lost 'em. They're talkin' to themselves-" Demoman whined.
"I'm right here-" You turned over to look at him, even if a bit offended. "I had to keep my sanity somehow."
"So you resorted to talking to yourself?" Spy mused with face reading 'I-am-never-going-to-let-this-fact-go.'

"Shut up or I'm keeping you in there." You huffed, even though you were getting up out of the couch to free the men. Heavy got up to assist you (which you were thankful for because even though you trapped them in there, there was no way you could lift that whole thing up to let them out; you had just dragged the cage over).

Once that cage was out of the way, there was only two more things left to do:
1. Build the transporter and
2. Find the others.

"Let's get the rest of the guys."