(MEDIC X READER, TF2 AND HL2 CROSSOVER) You arrive to City 17 and desperately try not to get associated with the Universal Union in any possible way, avoiding their armed men at any cost. However, you accidentally end up meeting a Civil Protection m...
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When the morning came, (Y/N) was still asleep for hours after the Sun began to rose up from the horizon. The situation outside was stable and the Combine had beaten the Resistance with great numbers, since they managed to kill dozens of them. It was a huge number compared to the total deaths of Civil Protection units and Overwatch soldiers during the judgement waiver. The streets outside were dead silent, but a lot of dead bodies still existed around the city, reminding anyone who passed by of the events of yesterday. Most of the citizens were taken back to their apartments and told not to go outside if not necessary. Apex was one of the units who was responsible to count the citizens who were still alive in the central housing block, and published the amount of deaths to his superiors. After he finished the job, the walked back to the Nexus to check on the citizen he was hiding in his room. When he opened the door and stepped inside, he saw that she was just waking up.
"Guten Morgen. I'm here to give you a, uh, police escort back to your apartment block." The unit emitted and made the citizen on his couch open her eyes. She looked a bit surprised because she had no idea that somebody else was in the room. Maybe Apex was like a ghost; his movements didn't make any noise when he walked in. "Uh, hey. Sorry, I overslept. We can leave right away." (Y/N) said in slight embarrassment and stood up from the couch. "It's okay. The city center looks like a total bloodbath right now, even if the fight ended hours and hours ago. Well, at least it's over now." Apex told her while he took his worn out gloves off and put them back on, attempting to make them fit his fingers better. Then, he walked out to the corridor and signaled her to follow. "That I can believe." The citizen answered and walked outside the room.
They continued to walk to the elevator and went upstairs to the ground level. It was relatively silent up there, since all the units were outside and fixing up the city to its previous glory. "I'm so sorry I have to do the following, but I have to pat you down before you go outside. It's a part of the protocol. Face the wall, bitte." Apex told her just as they reached the entrance and turned to face her. (Y/N) nodded and turned around towards the wall, just like the unit told her to do. Apex kneeled down and began to pat down her legs, attempting not to as rough as the other metropolice units usually were. He wasn't really focused on finding anything unusual, but instead tried to be as gentle with her as possible, since she was a nice person, maybe even a new friend. "Sehr gut." He emitted as he moved his hands up to her upper body, continuing his patting process. As expected, he didn't find anything suspicious on her. "You're clear. We can go out now."
As they walked out the Nexus, (Y/N) tilted her head down to see the street in front of her on a lower level. There were visible blood stains on the pavement along with crushed pieces of concrete. The cleanup seemed to be still in progress as some of the citizens were forced to help out with the disposal of numerous lifeless bodies and body parts that were cut off by a blast. "We have a lot of casualties. Too bad the Resistance didn't stop when they were still able to. Well, actually, the Civil Protection didn't stop when they were still able to." Apex emitted while they were walking down the stairs, onto the street. Suddenly, the citizen that was walking behind him stopped. "Do you think it's worth all the lives that we lost last night? The cause, I mean. They want to free us all from this." She asked him out of pure curiosity, maybe taking the matter too far. The unit turned around to face her, the two yellow lights on his mask radiating directly into (Y/N)'s eyes. "Ich weiß nicht. Ähm, Entschuldigung, also.. I don't know." Apex answered her, being seemingly quite unsure what to answer to the citizen's question.
He was completely silent for several seconds before working out the answer. "I'm not a citizen, neither I'm part of the Resistance. Since I joined the Civil Protection six years ago, I've been offered things that keep me satisfied with this insane system we are in. But when I was still in your position, all I wanted was to go back to Germany as fast as possible and continue with what I was doing. I'm not saying that I don't want that anymore. It's just that the world has changed since all this started. Years and years have passed, and I hardly think that I'm the same man I used to be. There's a void growing inside me." He gave his indirect answer to her question, causing the expression of the citizen in front of him to shift from questioning to somewhat empathetic. "Are you unhappy? Even if you guys are treated so well. The meals and everything." She took the matter even further. The unit turned his head away from her and looked to the side. "I have everything. But I don't have anyone." He answered swiftly, his vocoder forcing his silent speech out in an unclear tone. (Y/N) felt herself surprised when she realized what Apex meant with his answer. She expected something way less secluded from him, judging by how he acted before. Maybe she misjudged him completely and never saw past his uniform.
After a few seconds, Apex began to continue walking on the street, in intention to lead her to her apartment safely. (Y/N) followed the Civil Protection unit but didn't say a word since she didn't want him to get too tensed up about the topic. Minutes after, they arrived to the apartment building and stepped inside. It was more silent than before, and there were no citizens around. "This apartment building was hardly touched last night. Your apartment should be just fine and the things are where you left them." Apex said, still not looking at her directly under his mask. "I see. That's good news. Thank you for everything." (Y/N) thanked the unit and gave him a smile, looking up to him. "Kein Problem. If you need a police escort again, just tell me. I'll be around, (Y/N). I'm always here. Danke. Without your help, I wouldn't be here." He said before he walked back to the door and opened it while talking something on the Combine radio, much likely indicating that he was ready for his shift. (Y/N) felt herself falling quickly into her daily mood. Apex seemed to be that kind of person who never sleeps and is always up. Maybe the Civil Protection units never sleep? She wasn't sure, since only a bit was known about them. He was like a machine that went through endless tasks without stopping. That somehow amazed her, but at the same time, she felt bad for him. He was so full of life, but his light was fading.
