Novels2Search

Chapter Thirteen

After everyone had settled down into a chair, with Scout on your left and Heavy on your right, they all started asking questions at once.

"Guys calm down! One at a time!" You shouted to them, your hands raised. Slowly, they all calmed down. "Alright, Mr. De- I mean Demoman started shouting first so I'll let him go. Still, no one can butt in until I say the next person can start speaking, alright?" They nodded and Demoman started asking his questions.

"Uhm, I need to congratulate ya on beaten' me first, but-tah, are you alright lass?" He asked you, sober at least and looking fairly concerned.

"I'm fine, and thanks, but why did you drink before we were supposed to fight. I can't come back to life like you all do," You responded.

"I don't know... I think a part of me thought 'Hey! I fight drunk, so let's test the wee girl like in a real battle!' and the drinking part of me agreed. I'm sorry." You let out a small laugh.

"I mean, it's not fine, but I can forgive you, because I lived I guess."

"I'll say thank ya for that," He laughed. You let Spy go next.

"How did 'ou hear me reach 'ou?" He asked, looking pretty annoyed, but as far as you know that was just how he looked. You decided to be a sarcastic jerk with this one.

"Well, Spy, I have ears. The end," you smiled innocently and some of the men snickered. "Really, I did listen for you, but I figured you would be slow to hit me due to my guard being up, and you wanted to surprise me. I took this and stood still, waiting for you to come to me. Again, the end."

"I'm sorry for buttin' in here, but-a, how did he die I couldn't see it," Scout jumped in.

"Well, I heard him come up behind me, whirled around with the butt of the gun hitting him on the side of the face, and then made him stab himself in the heart while he was disoriented. It was perfect," You told him. Spy scoffed as Scout laughed. "Do you have a question Scout?"

"Yeah- *wheeze* I do, just gimme a moment," he told you, hunched over from laughing. After a couple of moments, he somewhat regained his composure. "Okay, how did you know to shoot for my legs?"

"Oh, that was simple. I knew after a couple of shots that I couldn't shoot your head, so I aimed a bit in front of your legs and let bullets fly, waiting for one to hit one of your legs to slow you down. Sorry about wasting time when I hit you though."

"No worries, I'm perfect now!" He gave a cocky grin and you smiled, somewhat relieved. Heavy was next.

"Heavy has two questions: How did you beat Heavy and why did you touch Sasha?" He had no clear expression on his face, but his tone of voice seemed a bit... angry. It disturbed you.

"Um, well, to answer your first question," you shifted in your seat to look at him, not that you wanted to right now according to his body posture, "It takes you awhile to move Sasha around in a circle to get me. I just took this fact and ran in circles around you to make you dizzy. I was actually hoping that you wouldn't start spinning the other way, so I made sure you were dizzy and not thinking straight so I could, well, shoot you. As for Sasha, I didn't want her to get hit by the next person, which was Pyro, so I tried to put her out of harms way. I'm sorry I did not know not to touch her, my mistake." He nodded, seeming to understand and he relaxed. You mentally let out a breath. "Speaking of which, Pyro, do you have any questions?"

He shook his head no and bounced in his seat.

"I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY!" Soldier announced and you jumped a bit.

"Go ahead, Soldier!" You responded shouting nearly as loud.

"YOU ARE A GOOD FIGHTER, I AM PROUD TO HAVE FOUGHT WITH YOU TODAY!"

"THANK YOU!" He saluted and you smiled, saluting back.

"Hey, wanna tell them about our foight?" Sniper asked you, chuckling.

"Oh yeah," You laughed. "I just jogged around so he couldn't hit me." The others laughed.

"My one weakness!" He cried in fake despair. The mini conversation lightened the mood.

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"Um, Del- I mean Engineer, I'm sorry I didn't get to see what you were about to do. I bet it was like a machine that would shoot me, and that would've been cool, but I couldn't get Demoman's inside out of my head and I had to try to get through the rest of it quicker," You told him, feeling the urge to scratch the back of your neck.

"It's ahlright darlin'. I can understand that," he chuckled. "You'll get ta see again anyway in battle, or I could show ya in my workshop later, or not." His face darkened and you felt a chill up your spine. Oh right, I have to choose what side I'm on. I wonder what the other team is like, but I've become a bit attached to them. Hmm...

"Right, a-anyway, does anyone else have a question?" You asked the group. They shook their heads. Conveniently, Ms. Pauling's voice came up over the intercom:

"The results have come in, may you ten go into the room connected to the door on Ms. (L/n)'s left." Imediatley, everyone got up to walk over, but as everyone filed into the next room, Medic stopped you. He put a hand on your shoulder, twisted you around, and dropped to your level with his hands holding your shoulders as he was significantly taller than you. His nose was almost touching yours and in a natural reaction you face heated up. What the fuck does this man want to tell me that I have to basically be giving him an Eskimo kiss for?

"How?" He growled, his faced twisted into a snarl. Ohhh, so this guy can't accept that he lost to me! Ha!

"Well," you started, your faced losing its heat and a calm expression morphing. "Your teammates have strong personalities that get them often hurt, am I right? As far as I can tell you are the only Medic on your team, giving you a stressful job. Stress makes you frustrate easily and makes you more prone to get more annoyed, and then frustrated more easily. I took your dislike for me to tap into that stress of not being able to catch me and soon frustration. This made your logical, or battle in this case, mind come to a stand-still, making you act out of blind rage. That is how I won. Also, take some time to relax honey, you NEED it."

He looked deep into your eyes searching for something, but you gave a mockingly innocent smile and he pulled away, walking swiftly out of the room with nothing more to say. What? Can't admit your defeat again? Heh, oh jeez I should stop mocking him, he does control what goes into my body, or not if I move to the other team.

You joined them in the next room. A door on the left and on the right, Ms. Pauling coming out of the room with a...you? You both saw each other at the same time.

"What the Hell? Oops, sorry I didn't mean to curse out loud...," you both said at the same time. The others chuckled.

"Ms. (L/n)," Ms. Pauling told you, "Meet (Y/n). She will join the opposite of the team you pick. She has your memories up until yesterday, but I have informed her of what her part is. You will still be doing your school work and when, or even if, you decide to no longer be a part of this after your contract expires, you can return home and this clone of you will no longer exist."

"That's dark," you said, not knowing what to say. "But I have no control over it, so it is what it is I guess."

"I also have your class results," she added.

"Will I join to be a part of one of the team member's class?"

"No, you won't. They already have their positions filled and well performed."

"What?" Medic scowled. "Vhen can I get any help?"

"Medic!" Ms. Pauling shouted. "We already discussed this. Besides, it doesn't seem like you even like her anyway!" That made him silence. "Now, Ms. (L/n), your class will be Strategist."

"Strategist?" You echoed.

"Yes, a strategist primarily comes up with plans for the team for battle, makes sure they execute it, and is a general supporter for any other class, taking on whatever class is needed to nearly its full extent, including Medic," she shot Medic an "Are you happy now?" look.

"Are there any sort of weapons I'm supposed to use?"

"Not exactly, your rifle, or the one you used to fight the other mercenaries, will be your primary weapon. Your secondary as a whole with be the devices you use to help your team. You will be equipped with a mace as a melee weapon, and the other classes will train you to work with their weapons when the time comes."

"Why was I chosen to be a Strategist?"

"Ms. (L/n), you were chosen to be a Strategist due to after only being around the other classes for only a few hours at most, you already have their fighting style and weaknesses exploited and used them to win. You come up with elaborate on-the-spot plans to beat your foe, or foes, and successfully execute it. You will be a great asset to your team, especially when one of the members has fallen, and will take your team to many victories in the future."

"Woah, sounds neat," you gave a thumbs-up and smiled. The other you did the same.

"Now it's time for you to choose your team. Once you have chosen, you will go with your team to what you'll call your 'Home Base.' It's ultimately where you live with your team. For battles you will go out to specific places to fight the opposite team. The team you have met so far is called the RED team, the one you will meet now is called the BLU team." You nodded with a serious expression. "Follow me everyone, and RED, line up in front of your counter-part." She walked out of the door to the left with the other you, you, and the RED team.

Inside the room, a team that looked exactly like yours stood. They were dressed almost exactly the same as the RED team, but the previous red accents on their clothes were blue instead. They also looked exactly like the RED team, which explained the cloning part of the other you. The RED team lined up in front of their counter-part and Ms. Pauling introduced you to the other team.

"BLU team, this is Strategist," she gestured to you and you waved, liking your new name. They all waved back surprisingly, except Spy, he just nodded. His eyes looking you up and down, you did the same to unnerve him. It worked pleasantly. As you looked at the shocking similarities to the people you knew to the people you didn't, Ms. Pauling gave the same speech she gave to you about your class to them. The only notice-worthy difference you could find was that the BLU Medic had a slight smile on and the RED one had a scowl. "We chose her class after a written test and a fight with every other class. She successfully aced her written test and flawlessly beat the other classes without a scratch on her."

"Is that because she was that good, or was it because the RED team sucks at fighting!" BLU Scout called out and his team chuckled, but the RED team scowled.

"I can assure you they fought as well as they do in battle, especially when they beat you, Strategist is just that good, which was why the Administrator chose her," Ms. Pauling said, resulting in an "Ooo" from the RED Scout. You thought the BLU team was nice, but you knew the RED team better and could more easily plan for them. You got along with most of them better and knew how to deal with their personalities, even if they had the same personalities as the BLU people, there were differences you could pick up on. You made your decision.

"Now, Strategist, pick your team and your counter-part with go to the other," Ms. Pauling said, turning to you. Both the RED and BLU teams looked to you expectantly, except the RED Medic. You sighed and made yourself look like you were thinking. After a couple of moments, you announced that you made your decision.

"I have chosen... the RED team," you told them and crossed your arms. The BLU team looked disappointed, but they also looked as if they were expecting it. Even the BLU Scout didn't say anything. As for your new team, they were all smiling and Medic looked confused, but that can be dealt with later.

"Alright then," Ms. Pauling announced, "RED Strategist, go with your team to their home base to set up your room and explore. There will be two weeks of ceasefire for you to get used to the schedule and train. The same goes for the BLU team as well. I will check on the RED team in two hours, and the BLU team in two hours and thirty minutes. Until then, goodbye." With that, the teams filed out of separate doors into separate bases.