Chapter 1: Ascension in the Smoke

Welcome back, Helen. New logs have been added. Here is the most recent.

Log No. 10720.

Location: Mannworks Quicklime Factory

Date: 10/10/1971

Time: 2200 hours

Assigned Team: Team Fortress

Team Status: All members active and on site

Resupply Status: Delayed

No. of Cameras: 7

View Replay? (Y/N)
-Y

Yes. Beginning Replay…


The moonlight shone weakly through the clouds, casting an eerie light upon the trees. In the midst of the forest, a factory stood, quiet. The only people there were asleep at this hour. Floodlights were on, but illuminated nothing but the empty battlements.

A rumbling filled the air, shaking the ground. On the cliffs to the east, a hulking shadow loomed. Squares of light littered the sides of the behemoth, a shadow occasionally flicking past them. Inside its metal walls, an army began to take shape.

Above, the clouds circled. A storm was brewing.

A siren echoed throughout the base, rousing the mercenaries. Accompanying this alarm was an announcement.

"Mann Co is under attack! Do not fail me! Protect this facility!"

Inside the main building was chaos as the mercenaries clambered to prepare before the assault began. The first to be ready was the Spy, as he hurled the book he had been reading onto his neat bed, and went out to prepare his weapons.

The Sniper was next, exiting his room with a couple empty jars. He had left behind his hat and sunglasses, and, still rubbing his eyes, went down the corridor to the bathrooms.

Giving Sniper a look out of the corner of his eyes, the Medic rushed downstairs to the supply room, hastily pulling on his coat over his vest. He then scrambled for his Medi Gun and backpack.

Upstairs, a roar shook the walls as the Heavy emerged from his room, already slinging his formidable minigun.

"Little robots dare wake Sasha and Heavy from our sleep?! We will crush them!"

The Pyro stuck its head out from behind its door, shaking its masked head and muttering at the disturbance. It disappeared back into its room and reappeared a second later with its flamethrower.

As the resupply area grew more crowded, the Engineer showed up with his toolbox. He began loading ammo and metal into it, then turned to his sentries and dispensers. Despite being down later than most of the others, he was the first out onto the battlements, already setting up on the front lines.

Stern yelling radiated from upstairs.

"SCOUT! GET OUT OF YOUR BED! THE ROBOTS ARE ATTACKING!" The Soldier commanded, banging on the Scout's door.

"But it's so frickin late right now, c'mon man…" Scout complained, still lying on his bed.

"I DO NOT CARE HOW LATE YOU THINK IT IS! IT IS OUR DUTY TO DEFEND THIS FACILITY AND BY GOD YOU'LL DO IT!"

Scout continued grumbling as he heard Soldier's footsteps retreat back into his own room. The young mercenary went to pull the blankets back over his head when he heard a sharp crack from behind his door.

"SCOUT! I HAVE A DISCIPLINARY ACTION AND I AM NOT AFRAID TO USE IT! GET UP AND OUT, MAGGOT, OR I WILL COME IN AND GET YOU OUT!"

"Alright, fine! I'm out!" Scout called, flinging his blanket aside and jumping into his shoes.

When Scout finally did go downstairs, Soldier was in the Demoman's room.

"Get up, we have a battle to fight." Soldier said, pulling Demo off his bed. Demo let out a drunken slurry of words.

"Och, m'busy.. needa bit more.. *hic* just holdonasecineeedaaugh.. mmmm.. drink.."

The Eyelander spoke up from its place leaned against the wall. "If I were still alive, I'd be helpin' ya out, but I'm not! So get off that bed, man, we got some robot heads to take!"

"The sword is right! Get up Demo, we need you! You can have a drink only when you get down there!" Soldier encouraged, helping Demo up.

"Aeughh alright lad c'mon Eyelander let's go suit up."

He staggered to his feet and went to get his vest and the Eyelander's scabbard.

"Good work. I will meet you downstairs." Soldier said, leaving him to prepare. Sniper accompanied him downstairs, with fresh jarate.

Out on the field, Engie had gotten all his buildings up. His sentry was watching the cliffs, beeping thrice vigilantly.

Looking up from his toolbox, he stared at the mothership, now close and looming. Medic came up next to him, Medi Gun already crackling with energy.

"So this is it, doc." Engie said.

Medic looked at him. "Vhat? We have zhe respawn system and zhe reanimators."

"No, not death. I trust you on that. Our mission. We're running low on supplies, ammunition, the such. If we run out and can't defend against the robots… the Administrator..."

Scout ran out of the base and over to the large rock that was in the middle of the field. He climbed atop it, trying to peer over the cliff at the carrier.

"Uhh guys?" he called down, "I'm seein' movement!"

Demo had just arrived and was placing stickybombs down as Soldier fell out of the sky. He let out a grunt, before calling "Medic!"

Medic shook his head, "If you stopped rocket jumping you wouldn't break your legs all zhe time!", but still ran over to heal him.

Another announcement sounded as the mothership's gates opened. "Robot attack imminent."

Engie whipped out his Wrangler. "Here we go, boys!"

"Prepare for battle in three… two… one."

The first group of robots emerged from the cliffs, jumping down with the clanking of metal. Engie pointed his sentry towards them and started with a rocket barrage. Soldier instantly shot up into the air and sent his own air strike down. Heavy let out a roar as he peppered the robots, and the cliff, with bullets.

With a click, Demo detonated his stickybombs, sending rended metal and shrapnel everywhere.

"Ka-boom! Take that ya tin cans!" He yelled, punching the air.

Scout jumped off the rock and began collecting what money he could salvage, shoving it into his bag. He didn't understand why anyone would want to build money-powered robots, but he wasn't complaining: free money for him when he bashed those ugly heaps of metal!

He zipped around and up to where Engie had set up, depositing the money into one of the empty toolboxes. "Make sure ya keep an eye on that, hardhat!" Scout called.

Engie didn't even seem to notice him. His eyes were focused on the hoard of robots, hands stiff and twitching on his Wrangler. Robot pyros had begun to descend.

Disappointed, Scout ran back out, shooting down a scoutbot that had somehow gotten past their main defence line.

The metallic bodies of the robots slowly began to pile up. Amidst it, Medic was darting around, flash healing as many teammates as he could.

Soldier let out a cry as a flashing rocket hit him head on, one he had fired himself. He exploded in a splash of blood and guts.

Sniper took care of the robot pyro that had reflected Soldier's rocket. "They're gettin' smarter..." he muttered under his breath to no one.

Medic ran over to Soldier's reanimator, focusing his healing beam onto it. Behind him, Demo screamed as he was burnt alive. He collapsed, dropping his reanimator.

Still keeping his Medi Gun focused on Soldier, Medic pointed with his left hand at Demo, index and middle finger extended.

Demo's silhouette glowed, and in a second he was back. Medic quickly changed his hand to a thumbs up.

Demo gave one in return. "Good on ya, Medic!" he called, before continuing to lob grenades. Soldier was revived a second later. "Back from the dead and reporting for duty! Thanks, Doc!"

Engie was moving a dispenser further back for Heavy and Pyro, who were resupplying their weapons. The sentry watched over them.

Scout went back to Engie's nest to deposit money again. Sniper's voice came through his headset.

"Scout, alert them at the front line. There's a large robot comin' out. Can see it from 'ere. I reckon there're some snipers too."

He nodded in Sniper's general direction, then ran back towards the firefight, scattergun out and ready.

On the way back, he found Spy waiting behind a corner. He had his revolver out and was peeking around.

"Uhh.. Spy?" he asked. "Are you gonna-"

Spy groaned, rolling his eyes. "Does it look like I'm a frontline fighter? Now isn't the… oh forget it, you wouldn't understand. Go run out there and get yourself killed on your own." He looked away and cloaked, disappearing. Scout shrugged.

"Medic!" Heavy called, taking a hit from a scoutbot. Scout flanked around them, shooting down the robot as Medic arrived to heal Heavy.

"Uhh, Snipes wanted me to warn ya about some big robots or somethin'," Scout said, clicking his scattergun to reload. Demo began laying stickies in response, but was cut off when the giant robot soldier jumped down. The ground shook with each advancing step.

Demo staggered back, then started spamming stickies at the robot's feet. Soldier did the same. Medic raised his Medi Gun to deploy a shield.

"You shall go no- AHHHHH!" Medic screamed, clutching his head as he fell to the ground.

"Snipers! Watch out, men!" Soldier commanded, looking for laser sights. "We need to hold this ground until Medic respawns!" Scout jumped around to distract them.

The ground shook again when another giant soldierbot entered the valley. They paid no heed to the explosives and bullets focused on them.

The giant soldierbots seemed to pause for a second, before they both unleashed a barrage of rockets with a rush of smoke and flames.

The mercs screamed, watching doom rain from above. Heavy tried to shoot down as many of the rockets as he could, but with each that he took down, another replaced it.

Almost instinctively, Heavy turned his face away and braced himself, almost as if protecting Sasha.

"We failed, men." Soldier said, dropping his arms and accepting his fate.

But someone denied fate.

There were bangs, explosion impacts, and an electrical ringing sound. Prying their eyes apart, the mercs saw Medic with his Medi Gun raised, deploying a shield and blocking the barrage. His teeth were gritted, he held his gun high.

"Doctor!" Heavy called to him. Medic nodded.

The giant soldierbots were reloading, watching the smoke clear. They moved slowly, as if checking for survivors.

Glowing shots ripped through the air, piercing the robots' armour. They stumbled back, reloading quicker. They would finish them with another barrage.

Heavy and Medic emerged from the smoke, Sasha crackling with critical energy. Heavy roared, focusing the first robot. Demo and Soldier helped too, but did negligible damage compared to him. Pyro tried to hit it with flares from a distance.

The first giant soldierbot exploded, scattering metal and burnt paper everywhere. Medic narrowly avoided getting his arm hacked off by a flying piece of shrapnel. The second one however was fully loaded, and unleashed its attack.

Heavy, completely absorbed in the task of shooting his opponent to smithereens, took the barrage full on. Demo jumped back, shielding his face. Soldier landed next to him.

Having killed its main attacker, the soldierbot rotated to look at Soldier and Demo. Its glowing eyes seemed to scan them, evaluating.

Soldier grabbed his friend and rocket jumped away, further up the hill. The robot followed them, slowly but surely approaching.

"HAHAHAHA! DO NOT LOOK AWAY YET LITTLE GIANT! HEAVY IS STILL IN THE FIGHT!"

The giant soldierbot spun around, only to be blasted again with piercing shots. Heavy laughed, so proud and powerful in his Medic-induced invulnerability.

"Go get zhem! Raus, raus!" Medic called, the two pushing forward towards the giant bot with their ?bercharge.

Soldier healed up at a dispenser, then went with Demo and Pyro to deal with the final wave of normal robots.

The giant soldierbot stumbled under Heavy's gunfire, unable to retaliate. Heavy continued laughing, his face split by his smile. Medic's smirk was just as condescending.

But just as the robot began to fall apart, Sasha faltered, emitting a sad clicking sound. "Ah! Sasha is out!" Heavy cried, leaving Medic and rushing to find the dispenser.

Now in range, the sentry perked up, swinging around to fire at the robot. It only got a couple seconds on target before it was blown up by the giant robot's rockets, taking Engie with it.

Medic ran around at the robot's feet, trying to distract it. The giant soldierbot ignored him, continuing to advance towards the bomb hatch.

It knew there wasn't much a Medic could do to hurt it.

Sniper picked off a couple shots, but the robot ignored him. He scurried to a closer point, then lobbed a jarate at it.

Scout's amused voice cracked through his radio. "What was that? What's that supposed to do?" He mocked, chuckling.

"More than you're doing. Go help Medic."

Scout grumbled. "Alright, okay. No need to be so rude."

He ran down the path opposite the one the robot had taken, in time to see Medic and the giant robot. Medic had an arm up, hand open and fingers outstretched, as if blocking or reaching for the robot. The giant robot wasn't targeting him though, still stomping towards the hatch.

Heavy came out from where Engie had built the dispenser, and began rushing as quick as he could towards Medic.

But before he could attack, the robot exploded. Medic staggered back, blocking his face.

Engie exited the respawn to see that the battle had ended.

"Well done. Get back to base and resupply before they return." The Administrator said to them, still no sign of emotion in her voice.

Exhausted and hurt, but proud, the mercenaries regrouped.

One by one, they entered the building from the two shutter doors. The room had a grate floor in the middle, but the two sides were wide openings into their base. On the left was their social quarters and kitchen, and the stairs leading up to their bedrooms. On the right was the resupply room, with munitions and weaponry.

They each found somewhere to sit. Heavy was on a bench with Sasha next to him, while the others sat on stools or chairs. Soldier stood at attention next to a cabinet, while Spy leaned up against a wall. Medic walked around healing them, for they didn't have access to the quick resupply cabinets they had during the Gravel Wars.

Heavy looked up at Medic, noticing his worried expression. The doctor was spaced out, as if deep in thought.

Engie came out of a door that lead to the rest of their supplies. He had a small notepad in hand and a pencil behind his ear.

"Alright everyone, I got a stocktake. We should have been resupplied today, but as you can tell, we haven't, so we're just gonna have to make do."

Murmurs came from everyone. Spy took a large drag of his cigarette. Medic found a seat and plopped down into it, still staring but not seeing.

Engie continued. "The good news? Scout, Sniper and Spy don't have to worry. The standard cartridges you use, we have plenty of, so you won't run out of ammo. The bad news…"

He sighed, with a barely noticeable shake of the head.

"... is everything else." He turned to Soldier, who snapped his head up to attention.

"Soldier, we have about a hundred rockets left. I need some for my sentry, so I'm assigning 60 to you. Make them count."

Soldier nodded stiffly, then put a hand to salute. "Yes sir!"

"Pyro?" Engie asked.

They looked up. "Mmmhmm?"

"I can upgrade your gas canister, but that still won't give you more than a couple minutes of continuous burn time. We could try using normal gas, but that might affect your performance. You do have plenty of flares though, so use then if you have to."

Pyro nodded, then went back to playing with their lighter.

Engie watched Demo, who was chugging on his scrumpy.

"Demo…" he spoke slowly, addressing him.

Demo perked up. "Aye?"

"You… used up most of your stickies."

"Ah did?"

"You sure did. Got perhaps two full clips left back there."

"Ah cripe…" Demo hung his head, letting his hands drop to his side, spilling some of his drink.

"You also only have a couple dozen pipes left. May want to cut back on the aimless shootin there pardner."

Demo shrugged. "Aye, will take note. Besides, Eyelander's edgin' to take some robot heads." He gestured to the sword laying against the wall behind him, then took another slurp out of his bottle.

Finally, Engie faced Heavy. He inhaled, then exhaled, looking at his notepad.

"Now… big guy… We have one million dollar crate of Super Caliber custom tooled cartridges back there, but at your maximum rate of fire, that'll getcha 30 seconds, tops. I could turn the RPM of your gun down a bit, but I'll letcha decide if you want that."

Heavy put a hand to his chin, looking at Sasha then back to Engie.

When he didn't reply, Engie continued, finishing up his briefing. He took the pencil off his ear, placing it with the notepad on a table.

"That's all guys. I don't wanna sugarcoat anything, so I'll just say it: unless we have a miracle, chances are we won't make it out today."

Defeated silence filled the room. Sniper grumbled, grabbed some ammo and left. The team gradually dispersed onto the battlements, until Engie, Medic and Scout were the last ones left.

Scout was counting the money he had collected. Medic was sat at a table, head propped up on his arm while he looked out into space. He tapped the table with his other hand, pausing for a moment to look at it, as if seeing something else. He then put his middle finger and thumb together, snapping his fingers several times in front of his face before noticing Engie watching him and hurriedly tucked his hand away, going back to staring at the tabletop.

Engie packed up a toolbox and hauled it onto his shoulder. As he was about to leave, he shot one last offhand comment towards Medic.

"Oh, by the way Doc, how long do you plan on going with a broken hose?"

Medic sat up. Engie pointed to the tube connecting the Medi Gun to the backpack.

Medic stood up, lifting the Medi Gun up to find that the hose had indeed broken, completely severed. A couple drops of liquid fell from the open pipe.

Medic had a surprised look on his face, but seemed nonchalant. "It's broken? Oh vell, I'll have to-"

Engie shook his head, dismissing him. "It's been for a while actually, no idea how you're still healin'."

"Zhere must be some left in the gun." Medic said desperately, shaking a little.

"That's not possible you've been healin' for a while. It's been broken since you got back here after that wave."

"Zhe medigun doesn't actually use zhat much-"

"Sure it does. Back in the day, you needed to refill after every match." Engie said matter of factly.

Medic cursed. "Verdammt- have you been watching me?"

Scout abandoned his money and came over to see what the nerds were up to.

Engie set down his tool box, speaking to Medic seriously. "Doc, you owe us an explanation. What black magic are you workin'?"

"Well... uhhhhh.. "

Medic laughed nervously, taking his backpack off and putting it on the table with the Medi Gun. He had a troubled look on his face, and stuttered as if tongue tied.

"C'mon Medic, spit it out. Whatever it is, it can't be that bad. You can trust us." Engie said seriously.

Medic coughed, eyes darting around. He couldn't see Engie's eyes, but could tell they were glaring into his soul.

"Aheheh.. well.. you're not wrong about zhe 'black magic'," he started. "... it's true that it's not just a technological advancement..."

Engie raised an eyebrow, not convinced.

"In a way... It's less magic and more… superhuman?"

Scout nodded slowly, seeming to understand.

"It's… an ability… that I have. All the stuff zhat I do is something I do myself, rather than being an invention. Zhere's actually a lot more zhat I can do. Does zhat make sense?"

Engie chuckled. "Nope."

Medic looked around, deliberating, searching for an answer.

"Uhh.. you know zhose superhero comics? You could zhink of me as having superpowers-"

Engie broke into a laugh, having to turn away to hide his face. Scout on the other hand was gaping in awe.

"So you're telling me.. you're Superman?" Scout's eyes sparkled.

Medic stomped his foot in frustration, then shook his head vigorously, as if releasing the final shackles in his mind that held him down. "Nein! I'm- a god!"

Engie recovered, clearing his throat. "You say that all the time. I always attributed it to your god complex."

"I'm actually a god!" Medic exclaimed, not noticing the absurdity of his claim. No point hiding now.

"You're God?" Scout asked with wowed admiration. "Am I going to go to heaven?"

"No! I'm a god! Nothing to do with religion!" Medic shouted, infuriated.

An announcement interrupted their argument. "Prepare for the next wave."

Engie looked out to the battlements, then back to Medic. "Sorry Doc, but that's a buncha crap. There's simply no proof that such a being exists. Go repair your-"

"Fine! I'll prove it!" Medic said, spitting it at them. Before the other two could respond, he floated into the air, hovering above their heads. His hair brushed the ceiling.

"Is zhis enough?"

Engie stepped back. Now it was his turn to gasp. Scout shrugged.

"Ehh, Solly and Demo can fly in the air. Big deal! You can too!"

Engie approached, raising his arms towards Medic.

"Hmm. Lemme pat ya down to make sure ya aint usin' any more tricks."

Medic floated down until Engie could reach him. He lingered in a sideways position, like he was lying down, in the air. Engie searched him, feeling for any concealed objects.

When he didn't find any, he stepped back and picked up his toolbox again. "Well, I'm convinced, Doc. I might be a man of science, but I believe evidence when I see it in front of me. Looks like we got our miracle." He said simply, before going out to prepare.

Scout and Medic watched him go.

Scout suddenly spun around to face the still floating Medic. "Alright, Engie agrees, but I don't! Flying is cheap superpower stuff! Show me your energy manipulation or reality bending or-"

Medic wordlessly grabbed him, went outside, and hurled him into the air.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHhhhhhh!" Scout's scream echoed across the valley.

Medic flew up and caught Scout by the back of his shirt, at the peak of his trajectory, 30 metres above the ground. He then flew out past the main boundaries of the base, into the forest. He held Scout out at an arms length.

"Convinced yet?" Medic asked with a smile.

Scout quivered, looking down at the floor below, then to Medic. "W-We're outside of the respawn's range, and I d-don't wanna die for r-real." He whimpered, trying to grab Medic's arm and climb closer to his body. "B-but... I still don't believe you!"

Medic let go of his shirt, sending Scout plummeting down.

His screams once again filled the air, but were abruptly cut off by a sickening crack. Medic landed on the ground, next to the bloody mess that was once Scout.

He raised a hand, index and middle finger out, pointed at the snarky boy's corpse.

There was an engulfing light. When it faded a second later, the body had disappeared.

Scout stood in front of him, shook to the core. He let out a short yelp, felt his body, then looked to Medic, who had just dropped his arm back down. Now he stood with both arms held behind his back.

Before Scout could say anything, Medic interjected.

"You've said it yourself, Herr Scout, out of respawn range. Have I made my point clear?"

Scout nodded, shaking. He still had his hands around his body, as if feeling for something that wasn't there.

"Good. Now go prepare. We aren't that far from the base. Go there yourself." Medic commanded, floating back into the air.

Scout pointed at him with hesitating finger guns. "Yes… Doc! I will… go do that! Thank you!", he said, before running back.

Medic flew around and went back inside to the resupply room, where he left his Medi Gun and backpack. He'd go into battle with none of it. After so long… he had forgotten how good it felt. There would be some things he had to practice, re-learn, but the robots would be perfect test subjects. There would be no one else to see, only his team.

He would deal with the consequences of his choice later.

He took off the belt at his waist, and the 'suspenders' attached to it. He also unbuttoned his coat, letting the collar and sides hang loose. He had no need for them now, they'd just be restrictive.

"Incoming robot battalion! Defend our honor! Kill them!"

Taking one last look back at his gear on the table, he looked down at his hands, then out the window at the robot mothership.

Not thinking twice, he hastily pulled off his gloves and left them with the rest of his stuff.

After all, this next operation was going to be... quite the experience.


A/N:
Updates will be staggered and rare.

Special thanks to my co writers, Aster and Huttah. Couldn't have done it without you.

Cover art by me and Chadi, who did the outlines. I did the rest of the colouring and shading work.