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“Ah, fuckin’, shit- SNIPES! “ Scout called out hopelessly into the large crowd, hoping against hope he could somehow raise his voice over the huge, bustling gathering of people as he searched in vain for the 9th member of their team.
A routine bus trip to a nearby town in New Mexico turned into a hopelessly lost bus trip to a not so nearby town, first in Colorado, then in Kansas, over to Missouri and finally up into illinois. How in the hell they had made it halfway across the fucking country without noticing something was wrong, he couldn’t tell ya. (Mostly because he had been asleep for most of the 20 hour bus ride. Cars made him sick.) They had made it from the small bumfuck nowhere town to Chicago-fucking-Illinois before they figured out something had been wrong, and promptly contacted Miss Pauling.
Problem; they hadn’t exactly imagined they’d have gone this far, or expected the crowd, and had gotten hopelessly lost in the sea of coats and hats and midwestern Americans. Most of them had gotten separated from the group, leading the 9 mercs to get clumped into small 1 to 3 person groups as they had all headed in opposite directions. Scout had tried to head out with Sniper, but had gotten trapped between a few people and dragged away from the Australian by Pyro, who was set on a path towards Engie and Spy on instinct, the large crowd having made them quite uncomfortable.
“Aww, Py, c’mere pal- “ Engie tried to sooth the overwhelmed Pyrotechnician, wrapping his arms around them as they buried their face into his chest, making strangled noises under their mask that Scout could only assume must be whimpers or cries. After some more hushing from the Engineer, Pyro loosened up a bit, but was still visibly uncomfortable. Engie pulled them closer as he rubbed their back and hushed and cooed at them to try to help them continue to calm down.
Scout couldn’t say he blamed Pyro for being uncomfortable- being in a new area meant nobody was used to the unusually dressed gaggle of mercenaries, as those in the small area of New Mexico had grown accustomed to be over the last few years, and Pyro was getting more stares than all of them combined, with their full flame suit and gas mask. Scout couldn’t help but feel a little sympathetic to the poor merc, they had always seemed to hate the attention brought onto them by their outward appearance.
(Though, once, Pyro had told them that they almost never took it off. They only peeled the mask back to eat sometimes, and they removed most of the suit to bathe every night, but that was all. They had, however, said they had a similar suit they put on specifically for showering, kinda like the flame suit but fully fabric, so they’d get wet, and Scout could not tell if they were teasing or not for the longest time until he had asked Engie about it one day and elicited a laugh so hard from the Engineer his beer shot out his nose-)
Snapping out of his train of thought, he looked up to the exchange between the almost parent-child duo and caught the end of pyro signing the word ‘fine’ to Engie. The Engineer gave a firm nod and held them close as he shuffled his way over to where Spy had parked himself, whispering something Scout couldn’t hear that made the French man sigh in frustration. Spy gave Engie a look, almost as if to say, “really, Dell?” with his eyes, and was shot puppy dog eyes from Engie in return, almost as if to say “just this once, Slick, for me?”. They held their positions valiantly for 5 whole seconds, before Spy groaned, giving in as he always did to Engie.
Engie beamed at him, pecking him on the cheek and mumbling “thanks, Slick, you’re a real big help,” as he then shuffled in the opposite direction with pyro, sitting them down on a bench seat so he could more properly calm them down. Due to his quick shift in attention, he did not see the way Spy’s face went pink under his mask. But Scout did. He snickered very maturely at the display as Spy turned his attention from his- what he called “Southern United States Nuisance”- to the indignant manchild in front of him.
Scout, again, very maturely, shut up as quickly as he could, averting his gaze to the floor as he tried to cover up his giggles. He failed miserably. As he continued to (not) contain his laughter, he heard an exasperated sigh, footsteps approaching, and felt a gaze seering into his forehead as he was stared down by the exasperated Spy.
“Are you done giggling like a little girl yet, espèce d'imbécile? “ Spy crossed his arms and tapped his foot at the younger man, imitating an annoyed father waiting for his child to be ready to get out the door for school in the morning. Scout glanced up at the annoyed older man in front of him, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms right back. He opened his mouth to say something snappy right back-
“We are tasked with finding the others while Ingénieur continues trying to calm down that… “ Spy searched for the right word combination, “What did he say again? ‘Valued Team Member’? Yes. That. While he tries to calm that down. “ He paused to make sure Scout was actually listening, and turned his attention down to straightening his tie as he continued, “We must find our other… ‘Valued Team Members’ before we are to return. At least, as many as still preside in the building to our knowledge. “ He looked up from his outfit. “Now, will you be able to actually follow behind me, or must I hold your hand to keep your attention, enfant stupide? “
“Ok. one, I’m not freakin’ stupid, “ Scout replied indignantly, “an’ two, I’m not a ‘enfant’ or whateva’ da hell you jus’ said, ok? “ He shifted his weight. “But yea, it’s prolly a good idea to go find everyone else, but where do we even… “ he cocked an eyebrow as he glanced past Spy’s shoulder. Spy followed his line of sight, catching a glimpse of a very familiar lab coat and even more familiar swearing. Scout grabbed Spy’s arm as he ran towards the angry German yelling, dogging and weaving through the thick crowd.
“ Qu'est-ce que tu crois faire, Scout ? ! Ralentissez - hé, faites attention à ces gens - RALENTISSEZ, IDIOT- ! “ Spy swore at the younger man as he tried to slow him down, but it was no use, the boy was on a mission. Scout hit a man in the shoulder, knocking him down and sending his briefcase smashing to the ground with a loud CRASH! as papers flew everywhere. Scout could barely register the man’s angry yells as he approached the screaming that attracted him in this direction in the first place.
“Sorry! “ He called over his shoulder as he pulled Spy to a stop in front of a very pissed off Medic and a very concerned Heavy. Heavy appeared to be trying to console the doctor, but it was hard to tell what he was saying over Medic’s frantic and angry screeches. There was a circle of empty floor space around them, as the people around them cast judging and shocked looks onto the unhappy couple. “Doc, there ya are! “
But the team’s Medic did not look at them, instead opting to continue ranting to the Heavy, (who was trying and failing to get a single word in) as he paced the floor, pulling his luggage around behind him, rambling in his mother tongue. “ -und ich kann einfach nicht glauben, dass diese Idioten nicht gemerkt haben, dass wir im falschen Bus saßen- kannst du das glauben, Misha? Kannst du es fassen, dass diese Idioten ...“
“ AYO, DOC! “
“WHAT, SCOUT?! Oh, Scout! “ Medic seemed to switch back over to calm, Scout noticing that Heavy sighed in relief behind him. “There you are! And Spy, too! Wonderful! Where are the others? “ Medic pulled his suitcases in front of him, as his- (Scout wasn't quite sure what to call him and Heavy. ) -as Heavy came to stand next to him.