Team Fortress 2: Operation Friendship

(Authors note: Sorry for the massive delay of this chapter, I’ve just had a lot of crap going on.)

Chapter 9

Rarity walked apprehensively towards the Spy. Although he seemed much more sophisticated than any of the others, his earlier display with the assassin had proven him more than a capable killer.  “Hello.” she said nervously, “My name is Rarity.”

The Spy looked at her indifferently. He then pointed to a nearby flat part of the gardens. “Go over there, I will meet you shortly.”

Rarity did as she was told. “Alright, Rarity, be calm. He’s on your side.” Twenty minutes passed by, and Rarity’s nervousness quickly turned into irritation. “Uggh, where is he?”

“Right behind you.” said a voice. Rarity whipped around to see Twilight standing there.

“Oh, um hi Twilight.” Twilight merely stared and said nothing. “Darling, a-are you alright?” Twilight smiled and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. When it cleared, the Spy was standing in her place, wearing the exact same facial expression that Twilight just wore. Rarity screamed and fell over. “You almost gave me a heart attack! What were you thinking.”

The Spy chuckled. “I thought I would have a little fun before we begin.”

“That wasn’t funny!”

“Maybe not for you. But, I digress.” He took out a cigarette and lit it. “What do you think a spy does?”

“Um, well, I really wouldn’t know.”

“A spy’s job is to be unseen. You must learn how to avoid detection. I have demonstrated two methods of achieving this, by cloaking, and by disguise. Which would you like to learn first?”

“Disguise, I suppose.”

“Very well. The art of disguise is not as simple as putting on a costume. You need to act the part as well. You need to learn your enemy. You need to put yourself in their shoes and think like they think. You need to become so much like them, you yourself need to believe that you are one of them. Part of being good at disguising is recognizing it. There are many signs of a bad spy. A perfect example is the zebra assassin.”

“He did seem somewhat...shifty.”

“Exactly. He looked like he didn’t belong. Also, if you noticed, his eyes were darting around watching us. A good spy takes care not to look suspicious.”

“I’m curious, how is it that you made yourself look like Twilight if you humans can’t use magic?”

“Good question” He pulled out a small black case from his suit. “This is my disguise kit. All I have to do is push a button and i can transform into anything I need to. Here.” He gave the case to her. “Try disguising yourself. You’ll find that most of your friends have already been programmed in.”

Rarity pushed a button and transformed into Applejack. She hit it again and transformed back into her regular self.

“Good. Now, one very important thing to remember about disguise is to always avoid the person you are impersonating. If they come face to face with a mirror image of themselves, you lose all hope of remaining undetected. I have seen many an ignorant spy meet their end in this manner.”

They spent the rest of the day learning the various techniques of disguise. As she trained, Rarity noticed that the Spy frequently looked over to the Scout. “Excuse me, but why do you keep looking over at the Scout?”

The Spy sighed. “If I tell you, then you can’t repeat what I said to anybody, least of all him.”

“I won’t tell a soul.” promised Rarity.

“He’s....He’s my son.” Rarity gasped. The Spy sighed again. “Indeed. He also isn’t our original scout. About a year back, the same time RED team was created, Redmond’s brother, Blutarch, created BLU team. They were our mortal enemies and about as close to equals as we could possibly hope to find. When I found out that he joined BLU, I was devastated. Even though he never knew I was his father, I still wanted the best for him, I never wanted him to do this sort of thing for a living. What made it much worse was that he was now my enemy, and there was a good chance he could be killed by one of my comrades. Anyway, the time had come for a full frontal assault on BLU. The fighting was brutal, but we were better equipped and more skilled than they were. Their monster of a Heavy mowed down our Scout before I had a chance to backstab him. Shortly after that, BLU got a radio transmission informing them of Blutarch’s death, at which point they surrendered. Redmond had the remaining members killed one by one, but I managed to convince him that we needed another Scout, so my son was spared.”

“Is that why he is shunned by most of the team.”

“Yes. It’s very hard to accept someone who was once your mortal enemy as your friend. Most of them hate him, the Heavy especially. The only one who seems not to dislike him is the Engineer.”

“But why haven’t you told him yet?”

“I don’t really know. I suppose I’m just afraid. My father was a drunk. He would stagger through the door every day yelling at us. He never told any of us that he loved us. He would beat my mother, and if I or my brother tried to step in, he would turn on us. The day I turned 16 I left home and never returned. Maybe I’m so afraid to be a father because I never had a decent father, and I don’t know what it means to be one.”

“You really should tell him, darling, he would want to know.”

“What if he hates me for it? I was never there for him when he was a kid.”

“Well, he might hate you at first, but he would forgive you eventually.”

“Maybe...” He looked at his watch. “It's getting late, let’s go back.” They both walked back to their respective bunks, pondering the discussion they just had.