Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cmon,  cmon, I told myself as I was putting up my zipper on my suit. 

"BATTLE IN FIVE MINUTES MAGGOTS,  BE THERE OR FACE THE SHAME OF BEING HIT WITH A SHOVEL!" Soldier yelled across the base. I would've winced if it weren't for the fact that I was used to Soldier and everyone else's antics in the RED team after almost two years. I finished tying my bootlaces and quickly ran out of my room to the kitchen. 

I slammed into a body and heard chuckling as I landed on the ground. I looked up and saw a smug Spy looking down on me. "Need a hand boudin?" he taunted, as he gave me his hand. I ignored him and got up by myself, fast walking to the kitchen. I was undisturbed as I got two pieces of bread and started jogging to the Respawn Room. 

"Heya toots!" the Scout said as he ran up behind me and swung an arm around my shoulder. I scowled and forcefully pushed his arm off me. He shrugged, and without skipping a beat he jogged to his locker. I walked to my own and opened it, only to get cinders and soot all in my face. 

"Tha's what oi call ah surprise bom'!" the Demo man yelled from his side of the room, picking up his leg and slapping his knee in laughter. I wiped off my face with a towel and put on the rest of my attire. I grabbed my bone saw and syringe gun, and started to get mild anxiety at what I needed to do next. 

"ONE MORE MINUTE MAGGOTS OR I'LL MAKE SURE BY THE END OF THE BATTLE YOU'LL BE HALLUCINATING YOUR OWN PAIN!" Soldier once again screamed as I ran to the Infirmary. 

Every time I cross paths with the other Medic he glares at me and ignores me. Getting his attention isn't much better when he screams insults in German in my face for whatever reason. Walked in to him when he was cleaning his bone saw? Being called a Kackbratze while he was swinging his saw madly. It also doesn't help the fact that I share my work space with him. When I joined the team,  I thought that I could go along with my job with the other Medic with no issues. I would slap myself silly if I knew what it would actually be like. When I was first introduced to the team, he literally screamed at Miss Pauling to either remove me, or make me have my own building. Since RED (Reliable Evacuation Demolition), are penny pinchers,  that would never happen. I've tried to do my paperwork and check-ups in the Infirmary, only to be pulled out by the collar of my coat. I've stopped trying to go in there unless it's very important, like right now. I needed to get my special Medigun, The Soul Sucker, from it's home in my locked drawer in my "office'" which is just an extra room that has a desk and a single cabinet. The Soul Sucker could absorb health from the enemy team and store it so I can use it to heal my teammates. I couldn't Uber or overheal, but I could blast out a wave of health to all of my teammates when I got a certain amount of health stored. I made the whole gun by myself, one of the main reasons why I was even considered to be hired for RED. 

I reached the doors and opened them forcefully. Hopefully the Doc isn't in,  I mused to myself. I sprinted into my office, put the key in the lock, and grabbed my Medigun. I ran back to the doors of the Infirmary only to be blocked by the one man I was hoping to avoid. "Hallo there Arschgeige! I vas hoping jou'd drop by," Medic said as he casually leaned against the doorway. He looked at his bone saw,  and he said without looking up, "So a new match iz about to start, ja?"

I glared at him. I started backing away and putting my Medigun ready on my back. He continued, "Hmm, so jour ignoring me now Fraülein? I see, vell I vas hoping ve could have a civil conversation".

I walked a few steps backward after I finished putting my gear on and rammed against him. He stumbled for a few seconds and quickly regained his balance as I ran past him to the Respawn Room. 

Right as I ran into the room I heard the Announcer start the count down. 

5... I felt a tap on my shoulder and swiftly turned my head only to feel the Spy tap my nose. 

4... I tried to hit him, but he ducked and turned invisible. 

3... I growled and stood straighter, testing my Medigun. 

2... The Medic came in and walked straight past me to the Heavy Weapons Guy, starting to overheal and build up Uber. 

1... My face set into a determined smirk,  ready to kill all of those bastard BLUs. 

GO! 

Chapter Text

Everyone gave out battle cries as we charged to protect the payload. We had about a minute before the BLUs would try to push a bomb into our base, and we had to set up in preparation.

"Sentry goin' up!" Engineer shouted as he ran ahead of us to inside a nearby building. Soldier rocket jumped over a wall, Sniper set up camp on top of the hill, and Heavy and Medic went in front of the bomb so they could quickly pick off the BLUs before they stood a chance. I followed the Demoman and gave him and the passing Scout a decent overheal. Overheal was the term used for when a Medic healed a teammate that had no wounds, yet the Medigun would still heal them. It let them be hit more often without being hurt. The PPL team's Medic claimed that this phenomenon was caused from 'extra health points', but no medic really believed his papers about his own technology. I think that overheal put an extra layer of skin cells or made the skin tougher to where explosions and bullets didn't penetrate as deep, but that was just a theory as my fellow medics like to remind me often. 

The Demo led me to the right door of the BLU Respawn Room to guard, while Heavy and Medic were guarding the front and Soldier and Pyro were blocking the left. Demo didn't even glance at me as we saw the BLU Spy disguise as me through the bars of the BLU base. "Looks like yah have competition lass," the black Scotsman commented, shooting sticky bombs on the door, "...cuz it looks like we got ourselves a fin' damsel!". I rolled my eyes and saw a red twinge in my peripheral vision. I didn't turn even as I saw our Spy sneak into a corner, to hide as a BLU until their backs were to him. I never got being a Spy. Damn snakes, I thought, That's what every single one of 'em is. 

"Five," the Announcer started for the BLU's countdown. I could barely hear the BLUs get into position and rolled my eyes as I saw the BLU Scout give me the finger. Last match I was cornered by the petty runner in the tunnels, but I had managed to... well kill is too nice of a word for what was left of the child in the end of the squabble. 

"ONE!" the old crone finally yelled as the BLUs charged toward the bomb as Heavy and Medic mowed through the enemy. The BLU Spy tried to sneak towards the right during the chaos but Demo activated the sticky bombs, and the Spy was now in ten different places. I was behind Demo as he threw his grenades into the BLU's base, so when they respawned they would be sent back into the Respawn Space. When we get hurt during this grueling war, death cannot give us his final kiss. Respawn was in all of our bases, and would bring us back to life after we died. It used the information collected from each team's medic to rebuild our bodies from scratch. Our dead bodies would stay on the field until the Janitor came after matches, while we are trying to kill the other team back from the grave. The PPL Engineer was the one who made this system, and like the PPL Medic, no one listened to his notes about how his technology worked and why. Respawn Space was the short period after death and before Respawn can finish rebuilding our bodies. Everyone had a different account of what it was, but everyone agreed it was a weird limbo dream-like state. Some said it was our souls waiting until it can find it's capsule while others argued it was just the mind's way of replacing the time lost in life and rebirth. Whatever it was, no one enjoyed being in that void for too long.

The last thing I saw was the yellow spray from the BLU Heavy's direction reach me before I went to my Respawn Space. I saw pitch blackness as I blinked away my confusion. I regathered my thoughts and waited until Respawn was done with it's impossible work. "Bleib stark, Kleiner..."

"Hey sheila," I heard a voice say. I blinked my eyes open and saw fuzzy blur of red, brown and white. Finally after a few more seconds my vision became crystal clear and I saw the Sniper in my face. I scrambled to stand up and push back the sudden migraine in my head. Once I looked like I would be able to stand for more than a few seconds, the Sniper tipped his hat to me and ran out to find a perch. I pushed my hands to my face and groaned. The migraine felt like it would spilt my head in two. I slowly walked to the medicine cabinet and took out the pain killers. I took three and walked out to see how far the BLUs managed to push the payload. I was in the second Respawn Room by the tunnel, which meant that the BLUs were two points left of reaching the base. Sheisse. 

I heard someone reappear into this realm of life behind me and I turned to see nothing. I figured of who it was, so I knew that ignoring him was the best thing to do. My migraine started to clear up so I ran to where I heard gunfire. My only warning was a flash of red before my face had a surprise get-together with the ground. I heard a certain Frenchman's snorting, so I stiffly got up and turned to my left. There was the culprit of my little fall, laughing his ass off like seeing me trip was the only joke he's ever heard. 

"What is your problem?" I yelled at Spy, getting into his personal space amidst his dying chuckles. "Hehe, what do you mean mademoiselle?" the cocky Frenchie replied, his fake obliviousness only adding fuel to my anger. I was mad about how I was treated. I was ridiculed by almost all of my teammates, ignored by the ones who didn't make fun of me, and hated by the Medic.

"Why?" I screamed at him, attempting to pull him closer by the collar of his suit, but he dodged before I could. I continued, "Is it my boobs? Is there some subculture I don't know about that is against extra skin on the chest? Is it the fact that my chromosomes use a different letter than yours? Why do all of you guys treat me like some I'm some stupid annoying child to make fun of? I work my ass off healing this team and verdammt I will not let my efforts go to waste for some immature children!"

Spy remained expressionless as he got a cigarette from his disguise kit. He looked bored as he said, "Don't you have a certain drunkard to pocket?". I growled and turned on my heel as I angrily went back to the battlefield. 

"YOU FAILED!" the Announcer screamed through her microphone as the BLUs pushed the bomb into our base. It went down and exploded as we started to run away for our dear pride. After every round, before ceasefire officially started the winning team could kill the losing team with no mercy. The losing team's weapons would jam and anyone who was stuck in Respawn stayed until ceasefire officially started. We all called it 'Dead Man's Mercy'. 

"Wha' in the bloody 'ell was tha'?" I overheard the Demoman angrily mumble when we were in the clear with ceasefire being announced. We were back in the base and I headed for the Infirmary to put back my medigun when I heard the Soldier griping away in the kitchen. With the Medigun back in the safety of the locked room, I had go make a quick snack.  Ignoring Solider as I walked past, I got some peanut butter and jelly when he turned to me. "Where is my American cheese?" he yelled at me as he destroyed the kitchen in his search. "Should be in the bottom left shelf in the fridge," I replied curtly, not in the mood to deal with the madman. He 'hmphed' and yelled that he had found the oh-so-great cheese. Pretty soon my eyes will be permanently be stuck in my head from my constant eye rolling. I made my sandwich and turned to head to my room, when the Soldier said, "Why don't you ever cook? That's what women are supposed to do for American men who fight for their country!". The sexism in this place had made me want to ignore the friendly fire rules plenty of times before, and I was close to cracking. Sighing deeply for calm I replied, "I don't cook because that's the Maid's job. My job is to make sure you and everyone else stay alive. And not every human being that happens to have a vagina has the ability or patience to cook for ten people". 

Leaving Soldier as he yelled about how in America that's not true because everyone is so great, I got in my room and started doing my paperwork.

One day I'll finally show them being a woman doesn't change my abilities or make me any different, my last thought was before I became totally focused on where the team's budget was going for RED to analyze. 

Chapter Text

"Nurse!" the Demo cried as the BLU Heavy put a million holes into his body. I ignored him as I was running away from the BLU Spy. Can't exactly heal when you're far away and being chased. Plus he used the Below Class term.

Okay, let me explain. Every now and then, a class can petition for an apprentice. If all their teammates sign the petition, they will get a new member who knows basic warfare, but not all of the specifics of their new job as that class. This apprentice will learn all about how to do their job as that class, whether it be how to quickly heal while running backwards for a Medic, or how to move and scope as a Sniper. Apprentices use different class names, which are called the Below Class names. Heavy Weapons Guy's apprentice is called Meavy, for Moderately Heavy Weapons Guy, Soldier's would be Recruit, and so on. The Medic's apprentice is called the Nurse. I am a trained, experienced-

 "Going so soon, mademoiselle?" the BLU Spy taunted as he used my quick moment of fury to catch up to me. I mentally face-palmed at letting Demo's words get to me, then face-palmed again. I had the Soul Sucker for crying out loud, I could easily kill this buffoon. I used my medigun to hurt the Frenchman, when another Frenchman entered the fightinng pen. The BLU let out a final face of annoyance as he dropped dead to the ground. I looked at the RED Spy with irritation and said, "I could have killed him by myself." He looked at me and said, "Perhaps."

My eye twitched in anger and I left the him to go to the Demo, forgetting why I was angry at him. The Demoman had managed to find a medikit to use for his wounds, which was barely enough to get back into fighting. I used the reserves in the Soul Sucker to completely heal him. He nodded in approval and I followed him as he led both of us into the heat of the battle.

I ran inside a nearby tunnel to avoid the BLU Heavy and Medic as they rampaged the remains of RED. This is getting too familiar, I thought as I crawled into a small niche in the tunnel. "I don't see Nurse," I heard the Heavy say by my left. I shivered and controlled my haggard breathing so they couldn't hear me. Then what he said struck me and I narrowly managed to keep my growl in. What is up with these men, my stars I would have been better off staying in PPL Headquarters! 

I didn't hear what the Medic replied for they ran out, leaving me in my hidey-hole. I didn't have time to analyze my surroundings for I was daydreaming of a certain Russian hand on my throat, but now I looked around. I was in the tunnel where the payload goes through to get to the second control point. I had secured a little alcove in the tunnel hidden in the dark and behind the metal wall. It had a small opening and led into a miniature cave. The possibilities this could lead, a sniper could hide in here and when the BLUs are too busy taking on damage from the front... but thinking of that made me feel disappointment. No matter, this could lead us to finally winning, I decided, as I crawled out and made sure there was no BLU lurking in the shadows. Satisfied, I ran out to heal the wounded.

We walked in shame back to the base, as we had lost...again. I ignored everyone as I went to the Infirmary only for our Medic to walk behind me and push me out of his way. I huffed and tried to walk in, but he closed the door in my face. "You're acting so childish Herr Frankenstein," I yelled to the door as it clicked to be locked. 

I went back to my room and started reading Fahrenheit 451, temporarily forgetting my surroundings and only thinking about knowledge scorched in the breeze.

Chapter Text

It's been awhile (to put it simply).

I'm probably not going to ever finish this work, and if I do I'd start from the top-up, and I feel bad that I've abandoned this.

If anyone (NOT AI) wants to take this work and use it for themselves they're free to do so. I am not continuing it, and it's fanfiction :) 

So here was the plan for the fic:

All of this was based of a dream I had back in 2018. In the dream, the map was 2Fort, and myself (Reader) was smoking with the Blu Medic. The specifics of the rest of the dream have been lost to time, but the gist of the dream was that the Reader/Red Medic would go out every night in between Blu and Red on the bridge and smoke with the enemy Medic. The Red Spy knew the Red Medic was sneaking out, and was understandably upset. I think in the dream it ended with the Blu Medic getting shot by the Red Spy and bleeding out in the water. Back for middle school me, this made a good kernel for a fan-fic.

The fic itself is specifically in the Upward playload map (the tunnel is where the secret entrance is). It would have continued with the Reader stealing Spy's cigarettes, going to the secret spot and smoking. (Un)fortunately, the Blu Medic was also camping out at night in the hole.

Blu Medic was a different personality than canon Red Medic. He was soft spoken and more akin to fanon interpretations (on purpose cuz I was a Sans AU girlie so I applied the same logic). He was sweet and kind to Reader, and while the Reader and himself start off with a severe lack of trust (obvs), Reader would begin to fall in love with the only one who wasn't a prick AND was kind to her. Blu Team were their own kind of ass to him, so he hid to get away (technically he found that spot first).

Red Spy was cruel to Reader despite favoring her. Reader genuinely hated him (for good reason). He was fine with that, however when he tracks Reader stealing his cigs and with the Blu Medic he goes ballistic. He would have amped up his cruelty to Reader and eventually confronted them at base. There would have been drama and reprimands from Admin, I hadn't fully planned out the specifics, and it would be close to the end of the fic. Red Spy was Jax (personality wise) before TADC was a thing in super short summary. Red Spy was mainly an antagonist with some flirty lines, never was end game for this fic.

In this fic, alongside Red and Blu, were the GRN, YLW, and most importantly PRPL teams. Purple was Admin, and honestly I just liked the head-canon of Red and Blu mercs being clones, and was based off of the Our Name is Legion series. PRPL were the OG Team that the mercs we know were cloned from. Reader and the lower-rank apprentices were new members, not clones. GRN and YLW were the gender-swapped versions of Red and Blu, and if I were writing this today I would base them in Alaska (vs canon TF2 in New Mexico). PRPL would have been predominate in the story, and I had several tie in fics for TF2 that I never did anything with. I remember one of them was a found family ordeal, but that's neither here nor there. 

Below Class. Moderate Heavy Weapons Guy "Meavy" = Heavy, Recruit = Soldier, Nurse = Medic, Technician "Techie"= Engineer, Rogue "Snoop" = Spy, Marksman = Sniper, Watchman "Watcher" = Scout, ??? = Pyro, ??? = Demoman

Everyone of the Red team was mean due to time accurate misogyny, but middle school me wrote it to an extreme, and eventually Reader would have been able to befriend Sniper and Heavy. Heavy because he never actually underestimated Reader, he just didn't know them, and Sniper was never misogynistic on purpose, he didn't know any better and through actually interacting with a woman (reader) would have learned his views were wrong. That was a minor plot point, but one that was originally planned back in the day.

I didn't have a set ending, as middle school me didn't write outlines.  

The snippet of what chapter 4 was:

There was a high pitch scream in the base,