You woke up to hear Sniper mumbling at his coffee maker.

"Bloody broken piece of piss..." He trailed off, tossing his mug on the counter.

"Is everything okay, Sniper?" You asked him, getting up from the bed. You felt the warmth of the blanket leave and you shivered slightly.

"Oh yeah. Oi just have-ta go inside to get moi mornin' brew 's all." Sniper turned to face you and smiled. "So, how'd ya sleep, Sheila?"

"I slept really well! Thank you. How did you sleep?"

"Just loike a cat." Sniper stretched and his spine popped. He laughed it off. The man was already fully dressed and looked as if he was ready for the day. It made you question what time he gets up in the morning and also how he got dressed in this tiny van, but you didn't want to give yourself a headache thinking about it for too long. He probably just went to his room. "So." Sniper snapped you out of your thoughts. "Think you're ready to handle getting back to the team? Can't imagine that Texas bloke will be too happy seeing ya with little ole' me." You sighed, suddenly feeling much older than you were.

"I know... I know I'll be fine, but it's just really weird to see someone I thought of like a parent suddenly turn around and act... the way he is. Sorry, I know we have more important things to worry about. This is your job, after all. I know you like to remain professional." You smirked to yourself, looking into Sniper's shades. Despite not being able to see his eyes, you knew you were making eye contact.

"Oi-," Sniper let out a breath and shook his head. "Sheila, what part of this would make ya think this is professional?" He laughed, but you only mustered a smile. "Besides that matter, as much as Oi value moi job, Oi care about ya a lot more. Oi may be a loner who prefers sleepin' in his humble abode-" he gestured to his van "-but Oi know that we're a team. Therefore, Oi need ya to be in top shape to fight alongside me."

"Thanks, Sniper."

"Don't mention it, Strats. You need to have more confidence in yourself. You're a lot more special than ya seem to think yourself as." Your smile brightened and you let out a laugh that matched your smile.

"Aww Sniper! You're going to make me cry!"

"Hey! Not on moi watch!" Sniper laughed. "Ya ready ta go?"

"You bet."

Sniper nodded and let you follow him out of his van to the door of the garage. Without a reason you could conjure up, he snuck his head around the edge of the doorframe to peek at the hallway. After taking a fairly long look for whatever reason, he finished opening the door and waved you on through. Not hiding the confusion from your face, you went on ahead and made it to your bedroom door without much incident. You turned back just as Sniper closed the garage door behind him. He tipped his hat to you. With a nod in return, you entered your room.

You shut it quietly behind you and let out a breath you didn't know you were keepin in.

"So, care to explain where 'ou were?" Spy materialized in your chair. Though you were ready to jump out your skin, you didn't feel up for that. You didn't bother hiding your surprise in your eyes.

"Why? Interested?" You crossed your arms over your pajamas. Spy rolled his eyes.

"No, I'm just in your room for no reason."

"Well if you just put it that way I would have let you in!" You laughed, making fun of his sarcasm. He huffed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Please! I have a headache." You let one more chuckle escape before shutting yourself up. You sighed, feeling slightly bad for potentially making his headache worse. Curse how much I care about others.

"Alright Spy. Why do you want to know where I was?"

"Mon dieu, you're almost as bad as Scout."

"Oh gross. That hurt my feelings." You let your eyes laugh for you. Spy looked up with a smirk.

"I will be honest with 'ou, Strategist. I was asked to snoop around by a certain laborer we both know. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do what I do best. Call it practice, if you will."

"Alright then, why did he want you to practice with my personal business?"

"Well, I have to admit learned that 'ou were not in your room through ze whole night left us a little worried. I'm simply asking where 'ou went."

"And what if I don't tell you?" A devilish spark shone in his eye.

"'Ou would worry all of us like zat? You're heartless." You rolled your eyes at his attempt to play with your emotions.

"Spy, if I wanted to tell everyone where I went, I would tell them individually. I would especially tell Engineer on my own. Did you enjoy your 'practice?'" Spy cleared his throat and stood up.

"I must be honest. I did not." He walked past you to the door and stopped with his gloved hand on the doorknob. His head was just barely past yours. "Still- between you and me of course -we all care about your wellbeing. It would be wise not to disappear like zat again." You stepped out of his way as he opened the door. You caught each other's eye as he left, but you couldn't make out what his expression was. All? You couldn't explain why you were smiling.

With that spark of joy, you got ready for the day. As nervous as you were about seeing Engineer again, you didn't want to let that stop you anymore. He has his own problems, and you certainly already have your own. Is he wanted to talk about his, you would let him, but you weren't ready to go to him right now. Especially after leaving you outside like that. A part of you wondered if he felt guilty for doing that, or was he so blinded with rage he didn't notice? Sniper saw him outside of my room last night. Maybe that's why he sent Spy to "check up" on me.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

With one last look in the mirror, you headed outside in the hall to head to breakfast. You noticed Soldier and Medic behind you. As you walked into the kitchen, you noticed almost everyone taking glances at you. It didn't exactly make you comfortable in your own skin. Still, you did your best to brush it off and grabbed a plate of breakfast. You sat down at the table and you would say everyone except Sniper looked a tad bit concerned, but Engineer wasn't even there.

It was strangely quiet. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see Sniper look back and forth as if he wasn't sure what was going on. You unconsciously decided to eat in silence out of fear of saying something stupid.

"Where is Engineer?" Heavy asked, but his voice echoed around the room. You cleared your throat slightly.

"Probably in his room if I had to guess." Heavy seemed to take comfort in you speaking up.

"Will leetle girl take this to him when she is done?" Heavy handed you a plate made for the Engineer. Despite just saying you wanted to avoid him, you agreed to take his breakfast to him. I can do this one thing and then let it all go. You were done already, so you took your plate to the dishwasher and Engineer's in your hands. "Thank you."

"Hey, no problem Heavy." You walked out towards his room, completely aware of the eight gazes tracking you down the hall.

Once you made it to his room, you took in a deep breath to calm your nerves. Thankfully, it worked better than you expected. You knocked on his door.

"Yeah? Who is it?" You heard Engineer's voice call out sounding gruffer than usual.

"It's Strategist. I have your breakfast." You heard footsteps coming closer to the door accompanied with the sound of his door unlocking. He opened his door about halfway. He wasn't wearing his hardhat, but he still managed to glare at you through his ever-present goggles. He took it from you in a rather rough way, but you decided to brush it away. "So, what kept you away from breakfast?"

"None of your business." Engineer nearly shut the door before muttering a "Thank you."

"Cool.." you whispered to the wood in front of you.

You decided to just head towards the living room where Heavy, Soldier, Scout, and Medic were waiting for you.

"Uh hey. What are we all doing?" You asked a bit slowly.

"Working out," Heavy stated bluntly.

"Yeah yeah. Get that, but what's he doin' here?" Scout jabbed his thumb at Medic, who promptly rolled his eyes in response.

"Safety measures, dummkopf."

"Hey! I don't know what that means, but I'm pretty sure it was insultin'! Besides, Strats nevah needed you."

"It happened once and once iz too many times."

"And it'll never happen again," Soldier growled, cracking his knuckles. Everyone else shared a look with each other.

"Okay whatevah. He can stay," Scout concluded, crossing his arms.

"I don't care for jour opinion," Medic retorted.

"Yeah? Well I for one-!"

"Let us just go," Heavy sighed, heading outside. You laughed to yourself and Medic winked at you. Scout huffed and followed after him, but seemed to forget his anger the moment his foot hit the outside ground. He pumped his fist in the air and whooped. He ran to the Training Facility and, of course, beat everyone there. Heavy laughed heartily and Soldier tackled Scout to the ground. While they tussled, a certain German proceeded to walk side-by-side with you. There was barely any space between your arms. The both of you laughed at the two. Scout got Soldier to stop for a split second and pointed at you two.

"Yo! What's up with you two bein' so buddy buddy?" Scout accused you. It caught Heavy and Soldier's attention. You looked up at Medic, and he looked down at you. You gave him a look that meant "You wanna tell them?" Medic nodded.

"Well, uh, we made up," you answered Scout.

"Really?"

"Yes really, Scout," Medic rolled his eyes yet again. You laughed.

"Oh.. yeah that's cool. I'm ready to sweat!"

"No vone vants zhat."

"Shut up!"

"YAY! FRIENDSHIP AND ALL OF THAT MUSHY CRAP!" Soldier shouted.

"Heavy is relieved." Heavy smiled. "You two need to work together."

"That's what we plan on! Right Medic?" You nudged him.

"Jes! Ve vill be unstoppable!" Medic smiled in a way that showed off his crazy. Heavy laughed and nodded.

"AND ME!" Soldier added, grabbing Medic's shoulders.

"Come, we must continue plan," Heavy waved you in.

Medic got Soldier off of him and you all entered the building.

What followed was a bit of a crazy workout. At one point, Scout accidentally became Soldier's punching bag and had to admit Medic was needed after all. You were sure how it happened, but it did. Seeing your improvement, Heavy challenged you to do double the amount of squats. In return, you would make him challenge himself. After a bit of struggling, you did it and decided to get your revenge on him by sitting on him while he did push-ups.

"I regret this," Heavy said through gritted teeth while you got comfortable. "You are heavier than predicted."

"Hey! Watch it or I'll have Soldier join me."

"PERMISSION GRANTED! HOOYAH!" Soldier belly flopped onto Heavy, narrowly avoiding you. You let out a shout of surprise as Heavy started laughing.

"I'm next!" Scout jumped on top of Soldier in the dog pile. You eventually decided to join in, all of you laughing. You watched as Medic awkwardly placed a hand on Scout to be a part of it. It only made you laugh harder.

You all finished your workout a couple of hours later with a big need for a shower. At one point, the guys chased you down the track to "Work on your speed" as Scout insisted. Sure it was. Surprisingly, it was not Scout who caught up to your first because you juked him out... right into Soldier. He picked you up and slung you over his shoulder and you all walked back to the base.

"So how's the ride?" Scout asked you.

"You know? This is pretty nice. I would ask you to do it, but you're probably too weak. I would hurt your feelings."

"WHAT? Did you see how many push-ups I did? I'm totally strong enough."

"Twenty is not enough, Scout." Everyone, including Scout, laughed. You winked at him to let him know you were only joking. Thankfully, you think he got it.

Soldier slung you down like a potato sack in front of your bedroom door. You thanked him for the lift.

"Not a problem, Cupcake! See you at o - one hundred hours sharp!" With that, he left. You took a shower in peace.

Later in the day, you all had lunch without Engineer showing up again. It was the same with dinner. Each time, you took his food to his room only to receive the same thing as with breakfast. Still, you took your mind off of it by playing games with Scout and doing school work.

After you fell asleep last night, Medic decided to pop in and say hi.

"So, how was your day?" You asked him while you sat in the Dream MedBay.

"Vell, it vas interesting to say zhe least," Medic laughed.

"Yeah, I saw you put your hand on Scout during the dogpile this morning," you stifled a laugh as Medic acted flustered.

"Vhat did jou vant me to do? Zhat makes me uncomfortable!" You sighed and hugged him, closing your eyes.

"I know...." Silence. "Medic?"

You woke up to a bang. Slightly disoriented, you went to check on Medic in the MedBay. You made you way down the hall, slightly stumbling thanks to your legs not fully being awake. Another bang. You walked faster. A zap of electricity. The feeling of your heart rate pick up as you sped up even more. You bust open the doors to another, large clang followed by the sound of metal warping. You gasped.

Engineer was destroying the machine. Medic was still in it.