The limo drove out of the city and you both sat in silence. You were back to playing your game and she was studying something on her clipboard. After what felt like hours driving through basically desert, you saw a little town pass by through the window.
"Is that Teufort?" you asked her.
"Yes, it is," she responded, not even looking up. Huh.
Before you knew it, the road disappeared and the limo pulled onto a dirt trail. Maybe thirty minutes after that, you saw a huge building...or buildings.
"Woah...," you studied everything you saw through the window.
"Yep, now let's go," she told you, opening the door as soon as you pulled to a stop. You followed her out onto the sandy ground. She didn't waste any time and quickly walked to a smaller building. You jogged to keep up, lagging behind from taking it all in. You felt the heat and the sand in your shoes, not really liking the feeling. She unlocked the door and stood aside for you to walk in. When you did, she closed the door and locked it. It was a poorly lit room made like an interrogation room, observation window and all.
"Now it's time for the Assessment Test part one of two. Here you will have one hour to complete a written test. It isn't anything academic, but the Administrator wanted to see what you already knew," she test turning to face you. "Please, sit at the table. I will hand you your test and then I will tell you when we're done. Feel free to talk out loud if you need to." You sat down at the table facing the window and she handed you a number two pencil and a packet of papers. You thumbed through it, finding it to be nearly all multiple choice. Ms. Pauling opened the opposite door. "You may begin." She locked the door behind her.
You looked at the first question:"What is the fastest way to kill a person?
A. A knife to the heart
B. Slashing a throat
C. Grenade
D. Bullet to the head"
You circled D and moved on. The questions were all similar to each other, meaning you quickly finished the test in under thirty minutes. After looking over your answers twice, you looked up at the window in front of you.
"Um, I've finished. Is there something else I need to do?" You asked to no one in particular. Soon, Ms. Pauling's voice came on through a speaker.
"No, just leave the test there, and go through the door I left out of. Then, move down the hallway and through the double doors. I'll explain further for part two of your test when you're there," she told you. Following her directions, you left you test where it was, and left the room with the door surprisingly unlocked. You walked down the dimly lit hallway, honestly it gave you the creeps. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all a creepy gray. It was like something out of a horror movie...ugh. You pushed open the double doors and walked out into a dome-like place that reminded you of an arena. On the upper rim where windows that looked down into the room. In the windows where the men in red and Ms. Pauling.
"What am I doing now, Ms. Pauling?" You called to the windows. Suddenly, the doors behind you slammed shut and you jumped.
"Well, Ms. (L/n), this is the second portion of your test. The skill evaluation," she responded. Oh shoot... "If you haven't already figured out, you will be fighting the mercenaries so see how well you fare. Don't worry, they cannot kill you and if they happen to harm you, Medic, or Dr. Ludwig as you know him, will heal you."
"Um, so that's fine I guess, who's-uh-first?"
"Scout is on his way down there right now, a gun will be given to you to help your odds." Then, a rifle dropped next to you from the ceiling. You jumped and you heard snickers from above you. You grew hot with embarrassment. I don't want to kill anyone though!
"Heya, toots," you heard him and spun around while picking up the gun. You ran your eyes down his getup. He was wearing the same clothes as he was at your old school, but now he had a two-barreled gun, a scattergun you think it was called, in his hands. Your eyes narrowed. "Ah, come on! I'm only gonna try not to shoot ya!" You had to laugh. He smirked and tightened his grip.
"Alright! Ms. (L/n), get ready! Three, two, one, fight!" Ms. Pauling shouted and a bell sounded the beginning of the fight.
Immediately Scout started running circles around you and you tried to shoot his head, but he was too fast: "What's wrong? Am I too FAST for ya?" he called, taunting you. You scowled and watched him, but then a shot rang in your ears. He had tried to shoot you, just as he said. You took it as a cue to start moving. You quickly moved, dodging his bullets with ease, even if they weren't intended to harm you, you felt him become more agitated and his shots becoming close, as if he was trying to really shoot you. It was then that you realized to had to speed things up and started aiming for his legs.
Suddenly, you heard him cry out: "Fuck!" You looked at him and flinched, he was crouched, holding his leg. You had hit him. Finally! "Well don't just stand there d-" you shot him in the head with your eyes closed, but then your scared feelings melted, a smirk playing on your lips. After actually killing someone, something had awoken inside of you. A need that wasn't exactly twisted to see blood, but excited to fight. The alarm went off again, but you couldn't see anyone. Spy... I remember him coming from no where. I know this sonofabitch has a knife, better watch my back.
You stood still, sharpening your hearing and listening for any noise. You stood there for what seems like hours, not thinking to keep from distracting yourself. A smirk was still on your face. Then, suddenly, you heard a noise come from right behind you. You whirled around with the butt of the rifle at his head's height and was satisfied with a crack. He was visible. Without any hesitation you grabbed his hand holding the knife and made him stab himself in the heart. He cried out and went limp.
His body disappeared, which shocked you. You looked around for Scout's body, but couldn't find it. Huh, so that's how "They can't die" I guess they get healed somehow. Who made this type of technology? This could save lives, like snap!
Before you could stare in amazement anymore, the alarm went off again and Mr. DeGroot came in. He looked drunk and that set you off a bit: "Get rrrready lass! I'll try not to bbbblow you uuup, but nooo proomisess!" He slurred.
"DEMOMAN!" Ms. Pauling yelled. "HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET DRUNK? GET OUT OF THERE!" Despite her orders a bomb flew past your head and you booked it, running away from the onset of bombs that can explode and, well, kill you. You looked up and Ms. Pauling was freaking out. Then, her voice sounded equally frantic when she spoke to you. "O-o-okay Ms. (L-l/n), I-I don't u-understand what's going o-on with him, but t-try to w-win this, for your life p-please!" Mr. DeGroot, or Demoman, was laughing like a maniac and your lungs were starting to hurt.
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"Aye, try to dodge THIS one!" Demoman shot a bomb, but it acted more like a missile and its target was you. Taking a race with this missile-thing, you ran past Demoman barely missing a punch. You slid out of the way and the missile raced for it's target, but hitting him. A shout came from him before he exploded. You were splashed with some red, gag-worthy blood. You shook out of relief and disgust, you looked at his body, blinked, and then it was gone. You shook your head, but you felt defeated. Shit....
"G-good job Ms. (L/n). I'm s-sorry that happened, but you -ahem- did very well using that strategy. Demoman will be punish and forced to apologize, as he knew you weren't chipped yet. Do you think you can continue?" She hesitantly asked you. You were staring at the ground. You suddenly felt very tired and put your hand on your face, pinching the bridge of your nose and willing yourself to move on. You looked up and smiled. This was supposed to happen anyway, right? Alright then...who's next?
The alarm sounded and Dell came out. Supposedly having witnessed what happened, he came out a bit tentatively with a box and a wrench in his hands. Yet, he said nothing. He stopped and the alarm sounded. When it did, he ran in front of you and started to set something up using his hammer. You tilted your head in confusion and took your rifle, aimed, and shot him in the back. When he fell forward and his hat fell off, you shot him in the head.
"Um... well then. I guess I'll learn what that is later, but right now I can't get Demoman's intestine's out of my head so who's next?" You promptly told no one in particular. You heard Soldier stifling a laugh.
The alarm sounded and out came Mikhail and a giant machine gun. Unlike Dell, he said something:
"This," he shook his gun, "is Sasha. You will not like her."
"Okay...good to know I guess?" you responded putting your gun at the ready. When the alarm sounded, you yelled and you shouted as Sasha started pelting bullets at you. You were running around the stadium just as Scout was to miss the bullets. Then suddenly, you had an idea. You tightened the circle, forcing Misha to turn more and make his aim less and less accurate. Then, you aimed your gun up at his head, him surprisingly not being able to concentrate on it for long. It got to the point where he was so dizzy he wouldn't try to turn the other way to counter your running. You fired and he dropped dead.
"Ooooh... ah-okay," you thought. Then, Misha's body was gone. Sasha was still there for some reason, so trying not to have it destroyed in the next battle, you picked it up gently and put it by the edge of the wall. I hope he won't hurt me for touching his gun, but I'm trying to protect it. He seems overprotective over it, her, and I don't wish for my head to be blown up anytime soon.
When the alarm sounded, you turned to the door. Then Pyro burst through the door with a flamethrower, as you would have guessed from his flame-resistant suit, and you spotted an ax by his side. They made a noise you couldn't make out into words as the fire shot out of the flamethrower. You stayed as far away from the flames as you could, circling the wall and keeping the distance. After some time they grunted in what seemed to be annoyance and took out a flare gun. You easily dodged the first few and then took your rifle and aimed. You fired multiple times at their head and then it finally broke through, killing them. You let out a shaky breath as the alarm sounded and their body disappeared. When the alarm sounded again, Dr. Ludwig, or Medic, stepped out with his permanent frown on his face. Great to see Dr. Cheery here to fight me.
"Okay, so you're the healer, right? What weapon do you have?" You asked, getting more tired by the second. He chuckled and brought out a gun-looking thing with needles in them. "Ah, original, great, the person that hits dies by poison? Dam-errrn. Dang."
"Jou should be impressed dummes Kind," he smiled his wicked smile. Did he seriously just call me stupid child? He's the one actually behaving like it, thinking I won't understand him at least a little.
"You know," you let out a laugh, "I absolutely hate that award-winning smile you got there. Perfect for a doctor that wants to scare the shit out of the 'Kind.'" He growled. Yeah that's right, growl all you want but I'm not afraid of you no matter how much you want me to be.
"Jou'll see..." You rolled your eyes preferring not to care. Wait, will he actually kill me? The alarm sounded.
Immediately, he fired one of his syringes, barely missing you. Upon seeing those results, he growled again. Oh my god he IS trying to kill me! You started to run and unlike the others, he started chasing you with a bonesaw!
"How in the -puff- HELL -puff- do you keep a fucking BONESAW in your jacket? You know what?" you gave a slow clap. You don't quite understand why you were speaking to him like this, but it seemed that it was having a good effect on him, at least good for you.
"GET BACK HERE DUMMES KIND!" he shouted and you laughed picturing what this looked like. You took a glance up at Ms. Pauling, she was stifling a laugh along with Sniper, Soldier not being able to take it and was full-out laughing. Medic seemed to have noticed too, and became even more frustrated.
Suddenly, you had an idea. You whirled around and started running towards him with the evilest smirk on your face you could muster. He became confused and stopped, not being logical from his blind rage. Once you were a few feet from him, you placed the end of the rifle on his forehead and fired. A confused shout coming from his mouth before he fell dead. The alarm sounded and you shouted triumphant.
"YES! I DON'T REALLY LIKE HIM BUT HATE'S A STRONG WORD! I LOVED IT!" You finished being frantic and fell backwards onto your back, jumping back up when the alarm sounded again. You looked to the wall, Sasha was gone and so was Medic. Guess it took a long time for it to disappear?
Soldier sauntered out with a grenade launcher and a shovel on his belt. Like always, his helmet was covering his eyes. He readied the rocket launcher and screeched.
"Oh jeez!" you ran as he fired, a rocket aimed your way. You tried to shoot his head, but it reflected off his helmet. You aimed for his chin and barely missed it, trying again you hit him, but he didn't even react. The fuck...? Still bleeding, he started to chase after you with his shovel. With your legs as tired as they are, he was catching up quickly. You stopped and aimed at his helmet. You fired and shot it off revealing blue eyes. He was nearly on top of you. Then, you fired at his skull multiple times and he stopped and fell dead.
You were heaving and puffing out of exhaustion and panic. You had avoided injury this far, didn't want to mess that up now. The alarm sounded and you collapsed on your butt, trying to catch your breath. After a bit, the alarm sounded again and you looked for the door, but when you didn't see anyone, you looked up for Ms. Pauling, but instead you found a sniper rifle being loaded and Mr. Mundy with his hat and glasses eyeing you. You waved feeling a bit loopy and he chuckled, waving back.
"Before this starts, can you explain why you're up there? I mean, I believe it's due to you being a sniper? I just want to be sure," you breathed out.
"That's roight," he cocked the rifle and started aiming. You just jogged around not keeping still. "Oh piss, keep still Oi can't aim!"
"That's the point," you cocked your own rifle and aimed for his head. Ms. Pauling was chuckling, making you laugh before firing. You hit him and the alarm sounded, making sure for you that he was dead. That's nine, I should just be able to leave now right? No more fights for today at least? God I would love a bath right now, get this blood off of me.
"Good job, Ms. (L/n). You passed this portion of the test. With some training for endurance you will be set for the battle field," Ms. Pauling congratulated you. You gave an over exaggerated bow and laughed.
"Thank you, Ms. Pauling. May I leave through the other doors?" You asked.
"Yes you may, we'll meet you there, but Mr. Mundy, or Sniper, might be a little late." The doors swung open and you raced out of that now blood-stained room.
Coming out you saw everyone, excluding Sniper, there. When you entered the room they clapped and Scout whistled. You scratched the back of your neck and thanked them, then Sniper bounded in. He laughed at what fight you two had and patted you on the back, even Medic and Spy were clapping even if they didn't want to.
"What now?" You asked, secretly hoping to sleep. Ms. Pauling walked in.
"Ms. (L/n), now I analyze your test answers and evaluation to determine your fighting class. After that, you'll get to pick the team you'll be on. For now while you wait, talk among everybody. I'm sure some of them have questions for you," she answered for you. When you looked you noticed food on a table and ten chairs fitted into a circle behind the Mercs. She turned to the men. "You might want to introduced your classes." With that she left the room the way she came.
After the door closed, you flopped down into a seat and pinched the bridge of your nose with your head tilted up. You sighed and set your hands on the arms of the chairs as you watched the others chuckle and come to sit down as well. You studied all of their faces, they were as if nothing had happened to them. No scars, no stitches for Demoman, pristine. I need to figure out how in the world they come back to life like that, but for now I just want to relax and have something to eat.
"So," you started. "Who has a question?"