Once she was out of her ropes, they didn't bother to tie Ms. Pauling up again. Even if she had such keen training and was sure she could concoct a way to get out of this, she wasn't positive she could take on all nine of the mercenaries...now that all nine were in on this ridiculous plan.
Ms. Pauling was buckled in the driver's seat, Heavy standing by the door and Sniper in the shotgun, so she couldn't make any sudden moves. Pyro was already in the backseat. They had a small unicorn with them and a lollipop in their pocket, bouncing in the middle seat waiting for the others. All she could do was sit as a hostage in her own car and wait for the men to get ready for their "little road trip."
"Do we really all gotta take one car?" Demoman asked. "I wanted the shotgun-" His slurred whines were cut off as Soldier slid into the seat right next to him, scooting him and Pyro over.
"Was it not your idea to ride in one American-made vehicle?" He asked.
"Nay!" Demo answered and pushed Soldier off of his shoulder. "And ye don't even know if this is American-made-"
"It is on American soil, so it is American!" Soldier rambled.
Pyro mumbled something like, 'that's not how it works' but the comment wasn't heard as the other side door opened and Scout began to push himself and a travel bag in.
"Alright, this ain't gonna work- onna you're gonna have to get in the trunk-!" Scout said, lodging himself in, but then accidentally knocked Pyro's plushie, getting him a small punch in the shoulder and 'watch it!'
"I thought Heavy was going in the trunk..?" Demoman said.
Heavy, hearing that, leaned his head in through the window, making Ms. Pauling lean back in her seat. "Heavy is not going in the trunk."
"I'll get in the trunk!" Soldier hopped out, almost excited. "This'll be my twenty-ninth time!"
"Soldier-" Heavy was about to try to stop him but then he stopped and sighed.
"This is ridiculous..." Ms. Pauling muttered. "You've all lost whatever sense you actually had before."
Sniper's door opened and Spy leaned in. "It is not ideal to be taking one vehicle, but the less space, the less opportunity for you to try anything, mademoiselle." He then looked to Sniper. "Slide over."
"If you think I'm sittin' in the middle, mate, you got another thing comin'." Sniper spoke with an edge that showed he was still not happy with him. We already had to move all this papers 'n whatever else-"
"Just sit in his lap, Spy." Medic said, coming up from behind. "You've done it before-"
"WOAH-" Scout looked disgusted between the two of them. "TMI, Medic, TMI-!"
"Hell fuckin' no-!" Sniper shouted defensively. "Carryin' someone who's injured to medbay is not the same as- God, I'm too tired for this conversation..." Pinching the bridge of his nose, the tired Australian got up, out, and gestured for Spy to get in. If he was going to be in the shotgun, he was going to be on the half of the seat by the window. Spy huffed and got in, just letting this go Sniper's way.
"Well, I think it would be easier if we stacked ourselves." Medic said and tilted his head looking at the amount of space. "Maybe, if we get Soldier back here, Demoman on Soldier, Scout on Heavy, Pyro on me-" He paused looking at Pyro. "On second thought, Scout on Pyro, and Heavy on me."
"I would crush you, doctor." Heavy huffed like it was obvious.
"Don't be silly; I have thighs of steel..! Literally and metaphorically-!" He slapped his upper leg and it sounded like he had a metal plate covering his leg.
"I aint gettin in no one's lap...I mean...I could sit on Ms. Pauling's la- HEY-!" Scout jolted a little and didn't finish his statement as Pyro poked their finger in his ribs. "That's it- I ain't sittin' anywhere by this freak...!"
"I don't care how you get in at this point, but all of you get in and let's go..!" Ms. Pauling finally snapped, feeling her brain cells dying from the back-and-forth of this conversation.
"That's the spirit, Ms. Pauling!" Soldier shouted from the back.
As Heavy was fitting himself in, Scout was crushed on the floor between the seats, and Demoman was trying to establish space between himself, Pyro, and Medic, Sniper sat as close to the door as possible trying not to even touch Spy as Spy held himself up straight on the edge of the seat, practically on the cup holders. "Alright, who is not here? Sound off."
"If someone is not here, they cannot sound off..." Heavy said, finally getting himself in, but then had to try to close the door.
"My point exactly. Put it in drive." Spy signaled Ms. Pauling.
"What about Engie?" She sighed.
"Forget Engineer..!" Scout said from the floor, Pyro's foot in his face. "Or stick him in the trunk with Soldier; he's probably got more room back there-"
"Howdy." Engineer said, going over to Heavy's door, which still wasn't closed. "Man, don't ya'll look like a buncha sardines in a dollar-store can...!"
"Aye, and we ain't got anymore room so don't ye even think about stickin yer Texan arse up in here neither!" Demoman shouted, keeping Medic pushed up against the door on their side.
"Course not. Ya'll didn't wait for me to find my instant condensed additional space for confined areas thing-a-ma-whatchit!" He gave a chuckle and shook his head.
They all gave him a perplexed stare, save for Medic who smiled.
"I need to think of a proper name. It's a bit of a mouthful." Engineer continued. "But all ya gotta do is add a bit a water and get extra space!"
"And when were you going to mention this?" Spy asked.
"Well, I figured ya'll knew. No way nine full grown fellas and a lady gonna squish themselves up in here." Engineer gestured to all of the space they had...or rather the lack of.
After a moment of irritated silence, they all slowly began to get out of the car they wedged themselves in so Engineer could add on the space, however it was going to work. "This better not mess up my car..." Ms. Pauling grumbled as she got out.
"No worries, Ms. Paulin' it's an easy uninstall..I think- We'll find out later!"
Once they were finally on the road driving - with the additional space - they set off the the location the Mailman was dumped-
"The Firepines?" A handful of them asked.
"The Firepines." Ms. Pauling confirmed, eyes on the road.
"What are the Pinefires?" Soldier asked, tilting his head.
"They're located further south west of here. It's going to be about a day's worth of driving." She explained.
"Wait, why is it gonna take us a whole day if it's still in-state?" Sniper asked. "And why would you drop them off so close? They could easily return-"
"Not if they've been drugged." Spy said. "They are likely confused and dazed...if alive at all."
"They better be alive for the amount of time We've been here..!" Demoman interjected. "I've finished a whole case of my travel beer!"
"It's been two hours..." Medic said and looked out the window. "My poor Archimedes...I should have brought him-"
"I don't know why, but the Administrator said 'The Firepines' so I was doing what I was told." Ms. Pauling continued, answering Sniper's previous question. "And I'm estimating it will take about a day since I'm playing taxi driver for a team of nine out of control mercenaries with jobs and responsibilities who thought it would be a great idea to drop everything for some Mailman." She spoke bitterly.
"And I refuse to have any of you piss or hurl in my car, so we are taking rest-stops...like one right now." She turned right off of the long empty highway onto a dustier side road where there was a trucker stop ahead with bathrooms and benches.
"We must keep these breaks at a minimum if we are going to make it there sooner than later." Spy noted, looking Ms. Pauling's way.
"Yeah, well, I'm the driver. Everybody out." She said, putting the car in park as they got to the trucker stop.
Everyone did so, more than happy to file out and stretch their limbs. "Thank god, I am not having to sit on the floor..." Scout muttered as he felt his neck pop immediately as he got out.
Pyro hopped out and began to walk over to the bathrooms. A few of the men looked over as Pyro seemed to be heading to the women's room...only to turn to the side and enter into the private unisex family bathroom.
"Dagnabit, they took the good one..." Engineer shook his head and headed for the men's room filled with stalls.
"Where do you think you're going?" Spy rose a brow and asked Ms. Pauling as she began to walk away as well.
"To the ladies' room. Where else?" She sighed, pointing to the door with the 'women's' sign. "What, are you going to follow me in there too?"
For a moment, Spy looked like he was considering it, but he shook his head. "You have nothing." He said almost as a confirmation in his mind to tell himself she could not get out of this, even if she wanted to.
"Exactly." Ms. Pauling gave a nod and then walked over. It was true after all: they patted her down and got what she could use off of her before...
Too bad they can't take off her wit.
Upon entering the bathroom which she had all to herself, she pressed the side of her ear where she had long since planted a communication chip incase of a complete dire emergency that would instantly call the Administrator. It wasn't a comfortable thing to have implanted on your temple, but it was all for precautions.
A couple of buzzing rings later, the Administrator answered her phone. "You haven't responded to any of my previous calls." The older woman's voice carried smoothly with a small sprinkle of irritation over the other end. No 'hello's - just got right to the point, knowing exactly who it was. This was no surprise to Ms. Pauling of course.
"That is because the RED team has decided to hold me hostage. They're forcing me to take them to the Firepines where I dropped off the one who was getting a little too close." She answered professionally.
The Administrator hummed. "Ah, yes... that Mailman...I was going to send you back there anyway." She said almost dismissively
Ms Pauling blinked, confused. "Why is that, ma'am..?"
"I asked you to drop them there for a reason." The mysterious lady continued. "I believe there is something of immense value there, and given the Mailman's condition of life or death and how far they've got themselves into the woods, you should be able to confirm it. That way we won't need to expend any resources or send someone of value out to risk. You do have them chipped, yes?"
"Yes ma'am, I did so before dropping them there as told..." Ms. Pauling responded, following along.
"Excellent. I wanted you to go back there and find them, dead or alive, record their condition and if alive, then finish them off." The Administrator spoke.
Ms. Pauling swallowed and hesitantly began to follow that up with, "Only now I-"
"Only now they are holding you hostage and trying to find this Mailman themselves...they unanimously want them to live." She completed for Ms. Pauling. "Yes...this is quite a peculiar situation...and are they truly all in on this?"
"They are." Ms. Pauling answered. "I've been taking a longer way to get there so I could stall and give you this information...I could attempt to tear their trust in the Mailman apart."
There was a moment of silence, followed by a sigh mixed with disappointment and curiosity. "For now, your orders are to go with this. Take them to their cherished Mailman and tell me when you have them as well as provide a detailed report on their condition. We will work it out from there." The Administrator concluded.
Ms. Pauling opened her mouth as if to say more, but nothing came out, and the click of the 'end call' was made. She stood there, looking in the bathroom mirror and let out a tired, overworked sigh. Running her hands through her tied back hair, she attempted to smooth out the friz and any fly aways.
The only thing so important to The Administrator that Ms. Pauling could think that was worth dropping someone off as a subject just to finish them off later that came to mind was perhaps maybe a potential spotting of Australium in the area...but all of the Austrailium in America had been lost, scattered, and most likely used. If there was any Austrailum here - especially an amount in close proximity - it couldn't be that much. Certainly not full bars worth.
Either way, Ms. Pauling got her new orders, and being so loyal to The Administrator, she was going to do as she was told - no questions asked.
'Time to just go with this.' She thought to herself, gave a last touch-up, and turned crisply to head out the door.