3 Showdown at 2Fort

The Soldier glared out across the no-mans land of 2Fort, his mind deep in thought (deep for Soldier, anyway) about the showdown that was due to take place. If it wasn't bad enough that the double crossing drunkard had actually agreed to kill him for a weapon, but the fact that he'd decided to rub it in by announcing to the world that he was a civilian? That had pushed Soldier over the edge. He could almost hear the sniggering and whispering behind his back wherever he went. Whatever they had once shared, every road trip, every drunk night, every time they warned each-other about their respective teams movements so that they could find a better position or retreat (not that Soldier every did, being the honorable warrior he was) was now shattered into a million pieces.

"You sure you want to do this, son?" asked Engineer as he fiddled with his construction PDA, making minor tweaks and optimizations to his sentry gun designs to fit the unique combat conditions of the battlefield.

"For all you know, they could have snipers ready to blow your brains out the moment you pop your head out the doorway."

"Then he's more of a coward than I remember him to be." said Soldier bitterly. "If I'm destined to get a 308. through my skull, then so be it, but that one-eyed rum dumpster will know in his heart that I have claimed the true victory this day."

"If yuh say so... Good luck out there partner. Give the bastard some good old fashion frontier justice."

"Thanks Engie."

"No problem. Sentry goin' up!"

"Soldier." Soldier turned to his left to see Spy standing there. That man had an uncanny ability to appear out of nowhere.

"They have a couple of snipers ready on the 1st floor of the base, and several more gearing up in resupply. They seem to be holding back rather than waiting for targets though. The Demoman must have accepted your challenge."

"Good work, France."

"It could still be a trap though. pyros turned up before I could run a more detailed analysis."

"Eh, don't you worry about it, tinhat." said Sniper. He was sat on the wooden floor, making the final necessary checks to his beloved sniper rifle, the main tool of his deadly trade.

"One of those wankers even thinks about taking a popshot at ya and I'll drop em faster than a kangaroo's kick in the balls."

"Appreciate it, sharpshooter."

"I just want you to know Soldier, ah still feel sore 'bout you not tellin' us you had a friend in red. You coulda' severely compromised us without you even intending to." said Engineer coldly.

"Sorry hardhat." Said Soldier. "It was unprofessional and unbecoming of a veteran warrior such as myself. Rest assured that I will not make the same mistake again."

"Hell, that's good to know." Said Engineer. He rested the metal box that he was holding on the floor and stood back, once again pulling the construction PDA out of his pocket. He pointed it at the box.

"Erectin' a dispenser."

Soldier stepped out of the doorframe into the midday air, his entire form bathed in warm sunrays. He looked across the canal that marked the divide between BLU and RED territory. It was pretty amazing that the two most hostile companies in the world could hold bases so close to eachother. Legend has it that during the 10 minute truce between RED and BLU of 1907 (the first and last truce of its kind), both teams tried to set up bases as close to each other as possible so when the truce inevitably ended, they would be able to get down to the daily business of tearing a each-others throats as quickly as possible.

With most of these so-called 'twin-bases', one team managed to capture the others side fairly quickly, combining the two halves into a much larger facility. However as with most conflicts between RED and BLU, neither side came out on top as they both managed to capture an equal number of bases.

Strangely though, this was not the case with 2Fort. Neither side has managed to fully secure the site in the decades since the truce, and battles for supremacy take place there on a daily bases, both Bluarch and Redmond refusing to back down at a heavy cost in manpower and resources.

Stretching across the canal was a wooden bridge, the main choke-point in which countless men had lost their lives. Soldier took position at his side of the bridge. He checked his new weapon, the Direct Hit, to see if everything was in order. He had to say that he was impressed by the precision of the weapon when he'd tested it out on enemy scouts earlier.

"Tavish? Come out, you pathetic waste of human skin!"

Jane saw a silhouette appear in the door-frame of the RED base. So, he had decided to turn up after all. He began to walk unsteadily towards the bridge.

The black man wore a black beanie hat and an eye patch over his left eye, and had a short unkempt beard covering his chin. He wore a red jumper and red trousers, the same colour as the company he worked for, and over the top he wore thick body armor, in order to protect him from the explosions he set off around him on a routinely basis. In his right arm he held a massive sword, and in his left he held a bottle of alcohol, which he routinely took swigs from.

"You couldn't even do me the respect of being sober." Spat Soldier.

"Either way numbnut, I'm going to tactically insert my boot right up your ass for what you said about me."

Demoman looked at Soldier. At first he was confused, But then a look of mild anger came over his face as he began to comprehend the situation.

"It's on! Its on like! *burp* Wha?"

Soldier fired the Direct hit at Demoman, the explosive expert managing to dodge the shot by some miracle. Soldier fired another three shots at him in quick succession, but once again each shot missed its mark due to Demoman's erratic movements.

"ahahahahar!" Laughed Tavish, taking another swig of Scrumpy.

"If you think you're better than me, you've got another thing coming! *burp*"

He dropped the empty bottle to the floor and grasped the sword with both his hands.

"Dammit dammit dammit dammit!" cursed Solider as he frantically began to load more rockets into the Direct Hit.

"1...2...3..."

"Yeeeeaaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh!"

Soldier quickly rolled to one side as Demoman charged straight past him, the eyelander raised above his head. He slammed it down, lodging it into the wooden railing at the side of the bridge. Soldier spun round and landed a kick on Demoman's back.

"Oof!"

Soldier threw a punch, this time aimed at the Scotsman face, but it was caught by Demoman's hand. Having bought himself some valuable time, Demoman tugged harder at the eyelander, finally managing to pull it free from the railing before Soldier pulled his fist free of his grasp. Demoman grinned. At this ranged there was no chance of Soldier using his rocket launcher. It was his turn to be vulnerable.

Demoman swung the eyelander down towards Soldier's head. Soldier tried to defend himself by instinctively blocking with the closest object to hand. The Direct Hit.

As the two magical weapons made contact with each other, the entire surrounding area began to glow in a brilliant purple light. Sparks began fly around the immediate area and dark purple thunder clouds began to circle above the bridge like voracious alligators, voicing their hunger with growling thunder.

"What the?" Soldier said before he disappeared in a white flash. Demoman looked at the place where his mortal enemy used to stand and scratched his head. A few of the wooden floorboards flashed and disappeared in a similar fashion.

"I'm drunk." Concluded Demoman before dissapearing himself into a white flash. More and more of the bridge disappeared as the storm above began to grow even more violent. What was left of the bridge began to splinter apart and debris were thrown everywhere.

Finally, the storm dissipated, along with the weakened bridge which collapsed into the canal. Splinters, nuts and bolt were scattered everywhere within a 1 mile radius.

Engineer slowly poked his head back round edge the wooden wall, having pulled it in when the explosions had begun to get a little too intense. He pulled off his goggles and rubbed his eyes, taking in the what he had just seen in the past few minutes. He looked at Sniper, who was cowering behind a low wall, cradling his sniper rifle in his arms. The Australian turned to Engineer and shrugged, as if answering his confused stare. Engineer looked back at the remains of the devastated bridge. He whistled.

"Hell, now ah've seen everything."