In Need of Assistance? (TF2)

Thirteen: Alternate Means of Disposal

        "Well, I suppose this will do nicely," Medic says as his eyes adjust to the new glasses Engie made for him, turning to the body we've brought down. "That'll also do."

"Do I have to get rid of this body, yes or no?" I question, hoisting myself up on Engie's workbench.

"No, we can do that for you after we get done running this trial, don't worry. It'll clear you two of any suspicion at least, " Engie declares as he rolls over on his stool to me, leaning his back on the desk while crossing his arms. "I'm more curious as to what y'all are doing down here?"

"Mostly hiding, we're actually supposed to be in the library right now," I report. "Maeve ditched me because these two BLUs tricked her by faking orders from George. We did find out some really helpful stuff. This Merasmus guy is involved somehow. Scout, you tell them."

"Yeah. Merasmus was talkin' about casting a spell with some mind magic or something. He mentioned something about Miss Pauling and Miss Fredrickson canceling a spell out."

Medic starts messing with Adam. Engie continues our conversation. "It's August, though. Merasmus shouldn't be creeping around during this time of year anyway."

"He mentioned something about his 'eldritch' powers working under 'certain conditions'. Any idea what those conditions might be?" I fold my legs.

"Sounds a bit too convoluted for Merasmus, it's probably just him making excuses. We'll have to pay the old fella a visit, sounds like," Engie thinks out loud and rubs his chin.

"I don't think we'll have to. I'm pretty sure whatever spell he currently had on the rest of the guys is broken."

"It's... August, though." Engie repeats.

"Yeah, now that I think about it-" Scout wipes his fingers off on any part of his clothes that's not sullied, "Miss Fredrickson, you shouldn't have been able to cast that spell."

"And now you're a witch?" Medic asks.

"It was just a little healing spell! I guess I am, I don't know. All I know is that blood rocketed out of my nose in exchange for healing Scout's."

"Doesn't sound too flattering." the Texan flicks his own nose with his thumb. "Anything else you two wannabe spies got for us?"

"Funny that you should mention Spy--" I knock gently on Engie's hard hat and he turns to me. "He's also hiding around the building with us."

"Spion?" Medic lifts his head, curiously.

"About damn time," Engie nudges my knee with his elbow. "Was wonderin' when his sneaky little behind would worm its way into here. He brags about being unkillable so I'd expect him to live up to the expectation."

"He's sticking close to George and almost got the drop on him, but he wasn't lucky enough. He's wearing blue like we are."

"He also worked for BLU, once upon a time like Demo as well. It might be his way of blendin' in with the crowd in case he can't cloak anymore, it's happened before. That might very well mean that the remaining boys are hanging in there behind the scenes."

"Hey, do you think..." Engie spins around on his stool and rests his head on his fist, looking up at me expectantly. "Do you think whatever spell Merasmus cast was meant to have the rest of the team act a certain way? Sniper was rather friendly for my first two days, but we obviously saw what happened later that week."

"While you're thinking about that, you two got any fresh clothes? Trying not to face the consequences of my actions here," Scout asks while breaking the mood, holding his arms out to present the blood splatters on him. Medic taps his arm and invites Scout to follow him into a side room. A shower faucet softly squeaks. It's a small basement that has shoddily put together laboratory-like elements about it. A lot of things look out of place, but I can't quite explain why. Plastic covers the wall as some sort of insulator while carts filled with a mix of medical and hardware tools strewn about, a wrench sitting right next to a scalpel and a screwdriver a syringe. The two of them have showcased slightly messy behavior to pair with their above-average IQs in their respective fields of specialty.