Family Time #2: Spy

Chapter 8

"Sit beside me, my child. There are more than one things I must confess to you." Spy looked at Ms. Pauling. She understood this was something he had to do alone.

"I'll watch the door." She said, and saw herself out.

"My dear..." he held Katerina's hands, "I am not a good person. Not even remotely. From the moment your mother and I met, it was under unfortunate circumstances. I was a hit-man. An assassin. And I still am, sort of. Mann co. prefers to call me a Spy. To them, I am a mercenary. One of several, and I am very good at my job."

Katerina looked at him as though he was speaking an entirely different foreign language, "Excuse me? I'm not sure I underst-"

"I kill people, Katerina." he hoped he'd never have to tell her about his exploits, his work with the unsavory gangs of Paris or how he was one of the best spies that Mann co. had ever seen. All the work he had put in suddenly felt embarrassing- no, horrifying. The look on Katerina's face said it all. His little girl was terrified of him. "I'm so sorr-"

She stopped him, "No. You are not."

Spy frowned, "That is not all I must tell you."

"I don't suppose what you are going to tell me will help-"

"I am your real father."

Her entire construct of reality collapsed upon itself. "I beg your pardon?"

"I met your mother after one of my jobs... she was walking in the rain and very drunk. I escorted her home. She insisted I stay. And I did... I had somewhere to be the next morning, but I assured her I would be back. She told me she had a husband." that night was a lot stranger than he recalled, as were the next 9 months. Katerina's mother, Elise, had told Spy the baby was her husband's, but she still wanted him in the baby's life. Through a very confusing couple of years, Elise's husband left her and she revealed the baby was Spy's.

"And I said I would stay with you two for as long as I could... and I did."

Katerina's expression turned from horror to anger. She could not summon the proper words to convey exactly how much she abhorred what was just revealed to her.

"I hope you will someday forgive-"

"Never."

Spy looked at her, "Wha-"

"I said I will never forgive you, Casimir! You scared me half to my own death the moment I arrived, then you tell me you're a mercenary working for some secret company that has you under lock and key and that you've been killing people your whole life! And then you have the nerve to admit after 18 years that I am your child!?" She felt sick to her stomach taking it all in, "I wish I had never been accepted to this college. I only accepted them because I would be closer to you. How foolish of me."

"Where will you go?" His voice was no longer calm and doting, "The only person on this entire continent who knows you is me."

She approached the door, no longer listening to him.

"For gods sake, Katerina! I was trying to protect you!" He stood up and grabbed her arm, dislodging the IV from his vein. "Everything I did was to protect you! If you leave now, you will be in more danger than you will ever know."

As much as she hated him right now, she knew there was truth to his claims. Katerina looked at the crumpled, sad man desperately trying to cling to his only family. From here, she saw all his injuries and the blood gushing from where his IV had been. What he had said to her may not have been the kindest of truths, but that's just it; it was the truth.

She helped him back in bed and wrapped his exposed vein.

Ms. Pauling reentered the room and pretended she hadn't been listening the entire time, "So I'm just going to assume he told you everything?"

Katerina nodded.

"Good. Everyone in the hallway has been knocked out. Spy, put on your clothes and this ankle brace. We have 10 minutes to get the hell out of here before someone notices."

---

"I told you this ain't an offroad vehicle!" Scout held his daughter for dear life while the uber-charge squad navigated through the desert.

"That doesn't make any sense, the hospital should be right here!" Medic inspected the map up close.

"The map only works if you follow the road, dumbass!" Scout was trying to buckle the middle seatbelt over him and Melissa, fearing for her life more than his.

"I see it! Over there!" Heavy made a b-line in the dirt towards the large white building. He revved the engine and floored the 6-horse-power van towards the hill that would lead them to the hospital's parking lot. The car stopped.

"What are you waiting for!? Step on it!" Medic urged, with an enthusiastic Demoman barking 'Get on with it!'s behind him.

"There is child among us." Heavy stated plainly.

The car groaned collectively, sans Scout and Melissa.

But Heavy refused to budge.

Meanwhile, in the parking lot below, a familiar face (and a familiar suit) frantically ran out of the rear entrance.

"Heavy, is that-" Medic began, already knowing the answer to his question.

"Is Ms. Pauling and Spy!" Heavy shouted in surprise.

The backseat riders exchanged a look.

"Lemme see!" Soldier crawled over the seat in front of him and in between Heavy and Medic.

"Get back here!" Engie grabbed Soldier's leg trying to pull him back, instead being pulled forward.

"Watch it! Watch it!!" Scout tried to split the two up while Demoman and Pyro avoided limbs being waved in their faces.

"EVERYONE STOP!" Heavy grabbed Soldier by the neck and growled menacingly before he had realized he had taken his foot of the brake. "Oh no."

The car inched forward slowly before taking off at break-neck speed down the side of the canyon. Heavy let go of Soldier and put his hands back on the wheel, desperately trying to hold down the brakes.

Everyone was screaming, mostly out of sheer terror. "We're not gonna make it!!" shouted Melissa.

"Oh yes we are!" Heavy reached for the emergency break as they approached the bottom of the incline.

The car screeched and swerved out of control in the sparsely populous lot. The car felt as though it would flip, but everyone leaned the other direction.

The car finally stopped moving.

The window rolled down, "Ms. Pauling!! Over here!!" Medic shouted while the others caught their bearings.

She turned her attention to the dust-caked van at the back of the parking lot, "Medic!?" confusion resonated in her voice, but she was glad to see that the mercs had made it, "Kat, Spy, hurry up!" Ms. Pauling ran towards them eagerly.

The van pulled up beside her and the backseat door opened. "Thank goodness we caught you!"

"I hope there's room for-" Ms. Pauling was face-to-face with the battered and shaken mercenaries, "What happened here?"

"You didn't see us come barreling down the canyon?!" Scout was still clinging to his daughter for dear life, but Melissa seemed unphased.

Spy and Katerina had made their way doorside. Spy climbed in and flopped across Demoman and Scout. His gaze was parallel to Scout's, "I don't want to hear it." he scowled.

Ms. Pauling and Katerina piled in behind them, smooshed against Engie and Pyro. (Soldier was sitting on the floor between Heavy and Medic.)

"How the hell did you break him out?" Scout directed his question at the ladies behind him.

Ms. Pauling sighed heavily, reliving the dramatic nightmare in her head, "I'll tell you back at base."