FORTIFIED | Team Fortress 2

Chapter 6

I awake for what seems to be the hundredth time. My wrists are not tied, but handcuffed. A shotgun is aimed at me, held by the BLU Soldier. I manage to utter a few words, "W-What the hell?"
I hear laughter as a response and I see the entire BLU Team laughing at me, the Soldier being the loudest.
"Hold on," he says while trying to catch his breath, "This is the funniest thing I've seen all year. The most entertainment I used to get out of constant losses and repetitive shooting was rocket jumping. But this? This is off the charts of fun." It is at this point I realise I am strapped to a chair. "You're held captive, maggot."
The BLU Scout walks over to me and says "Y'know, I was slowly startin' to like ya. But I'm startin' to wish I had let that useless RED Engineer kill ya."
I'm definitely going to have to sleep in the broom cupboard now, if somehow a miracle were to happen and I survive. My thoughts are interrupted with being whacked over the head with the shotgun that was aimed at me.

I regain consciousness after what feels like hours and close my eyes. I slowly open my eyes and look around the room. I am yet again back in the meeting room of the BLU base. I imagine the amount of trouble I could have avoided if I stayed where I was in the hospital ward.

I wonder why it's so quiet and why nobody is here. Could everybody be sleeping? Maybe they're watching me through a camera around here. Now would be the best time to try and escape, but it seems impossible. I try to free my wrists of the handcuffs but it's useless. Trapped in one position until I die isn't the way I wanted to leave the world. I wanted to leave with people knowing my story. I wanted to leave a mark. This would have to be the worst way to die. And then I hear something. I look towards where I heard the sound, it sounded like a clank of some sort.
Then I notice the pair of eyes staring at me from the shadows and I wonder how long he had been there watching me.
"I see ya, you know." I mutter.
He emerges from the darkness and I am able to see him. The BLU Scout. And he looks damaged. Not as damaged as I bet I look right now. I suspect he had an intense fight in the battlefield sometime. Since I have no idea how long I was passed out for, it's hard to tell.
"Why were ya watchin' me? Mind ya own business." My attitude cannot be controlled and I am at home with it.
"I don't hate you. I'm probably the only one in your life who doesn't right now." He says. Confusion, the only emotion I know I am feeling. Why wouldn't this guy hate me? What he said about the RED Engineer was proof he doesn't like me. I've never done anything for him except try to kill him.
"They punished me for treatin' ya like some sort of friend. For even talkin' to ya. For savin' ya from that Engineer. I thought this team was loyal and well... I was wrong." And now I realise why he looks so awful. Well, he always looks awful, but there is a significant difference.
"Not my problem." I say. It may be cold, but I'm not interested in feeling sorry for a douche. I'm sure I could have taken that Engineer out on my own. He laughed at me before and this is his karma.

Days pass and I get used to sitting in this chair. I am losing my mind more and more as every twenty four hours go by. I've counted all of the chairs surrounding the table and the tiles on the ceiling. I know every detail of the room. The BLU Scout regains his normal look, almost like he had never been punished, probably tortured, in the first place. I'm almost certain I look awful. Neither of the teams have won and maybe they won't allow them to even more than they usually won't because I am staring at the Intelligence on the table. If a RED team member came and picked it up, I'm sure they could free me, but while they figure out how, we'd probably be blown to bits. As soon as you pick up the briefcase, you run as fast as you can. The first lesson of becoming a Scout. I remember it when I got this job.

I haven't uttered a word in what I guess to be a week. Seven or so days ago the BLU Scout talked to me, and the last words I have said are 'Not my problem." And maybe that sums me up pretty well. I don't think I could say anything even if I wanted to. I hear the footsteps of the worst person in my life enter the room.
"Today is a different kind of day," The BLU Soldier says. "Bring him in." The idiot who almost burnt me alive enters the room with somebody handcuffed walking beside him. I catch a glimpse of red and immediately shut my eyes, not wanting to believe it. Myself being trapped here was horrible enough, but one of my teammates will be worse. I'm too close to death to be replaced. I am almost begging for it now.
"Talk." The Heavy says.
I hear the Australian's voice. Not him. Why him? He was the closest person on the team to a friend I had. The others are just teammates. They must know this, to affect me even more than they have. But I still won't let them know they have won or that they are better than me. I open my eyes to see him and he almost looks emotionless as he says it.
"You are the biggest disappointment our team have ever dealt with. I hope you die as soon as possible. Having to deal with the fact you are alive is irritatin'. You deserve all of this."
My assumptions have turned out to be true. My team, no, not only my team, but everybody in my life thinks I am the worst thing that has ever happened to them. Can it really be true? Did they force him to say that? No, it's true. It's definitely true.