Operation: Arctic Fortress

The noise of several people entering the room averted Wynter’s attention from the papers she’d been given to look at, to the men that she found standing in her midst.
Right away she recognized Soldier and Medic, both of whom gave her a knowing glance and nod in her direction. She stared Medic down upon noticing his was more of a smug smirk from their previous conflict, she was damned if he was actually going to think himself above her just because he was able to take her in a fight.

Their stare broke when he turned his agression towards Scout, who was apparently sitting in Medic’s chair. She couldn’t decipher what he was yelling at him, since she didn’t know any German language, but she could at least make an educated guess that it was profane and threatening, especially from the way Scout jumped out of the chair and right across the table, plopping into the empty seat next to her.
"Yo." He said, nudging her arm with his elbow, Spy rolling his syes at the immature display from Scout.
Soldier pounded on the table with his fist to get everyone’s attention, and the whole team was silent.
"Listen up, maggots! The first order is the one that I’m sure you’ve all been made aware of, our new recruit." He motioned Wynter to come stand next to him and she obeyed, getting out of her seat. She felt singled out and awkward, especially with all eyes on her.
"This is Wynter. She’s going to be fighting with us against BLU. I know some of you-" He looked directly at Sniper and Spy, "Were against the idea because she is previously untrained and female and all that other somewhat truthful poppycock but she’s a part of the team now so here she is."
"Don’t make her too comfortable, she’ll be dead within ze week." Medic said.
"Aw now that’s a little rude to be saying that right in front of ‘er, don’t you think?" Sniper replied with a little disbelief, "I’m not exactly on board with the whole thing but at least I’m givin’ ‘er a chance."
"Ve don’t have ze time for chances. Ve don’t have time to "fuck up" as ze rest of you say, and ve don’t have time to give ze training she needs to be half as good as ze rest of us. Zhat’s all I’m saying. You’re more zhan welcome to waste your time with that mess but I want to live."
"Settle down!" Soldier yelled, feeling uncomfortable for Wynter.
"You can go sit down now." He motioned to her, and she immediately sat down, feeling the pressure leave her.
"Hündin." Medic muttered under his breath.
"What did you say to me." Wynter asked, glaring up at him, her voice harboring a slight quake.
"You do not speak German? I am not surprised."
"I don’t. What did you say to me."
Medic leaned in from across the table, their eyes locking in confrontation.
"I said you are a bitch."
Wynter scoffed. “Was that supposed to offend me?”
Medic shrugged. “I don’t say things to affect others.” He took out his bonesaw and laid it on the table, “I believe zhat actions speak louder zhan words.”
"Then I guess I’m gonna have to show you what a bitch I can be." Wynter retorted.
"As I said before. If you zhink zhat I am intimidated by you, you’re going to have to try a little harder."
His eyes were like that of a wolf ready to eat a baby chicken. He had no fear, only a conniving mind with plans of laying waste to her. His intentions were probably not that far from animalistic either, ready to rip her apart and squander her innards, but moreso scientific experimentation instead of eating.
Wynter sat back in her chair, breaking their gaze with an eye roll so it wouldn’t look like she was backing down.
"Don’t let ‘im get to ya, girly." Scout whispered almost inaudably in her ear once Soldier had everyone’s attention again, "Did the same thing ta me when I first got here."
"….how long ago was that?" Wynter whispered back.
"Aw man, couple of years ago. You’ll hear ‘em talk about their mercenary work n’ stuff with like, Redmond Mann and whatnot, I wasn’t a part of that, I was like, I was just learnin’ to wipe my ass when that shit went down, I didn’t meet ‘em until the current apocalypse shit started happenin’. Kinda the same thing that happened with you, ya know, got a lil’ roughed up an’ they decided I was awesome enough to join forces. Hey, I’m sorry I hit ya head in. Thought you were with the BLUs, yanno? I mean, you weren’t wearin’ da colors or nuthin’ but I’d rather attack now and ask questions later, yanno? Anyway. Yeah. Welcome to the t-"
"SCOUT HAVE YOU HEARD A SINGLE GODDAMNED WORD I’VE SAID?" Soldier shouted, slamming both hands on the table and leaning in his direction.
"Uh… you were uh, you were talkin’ about da next mission?"
"MORE SPECIFIC, STUPID!"
"We’re attacking BLU from behind the base, walk through the woods n’ stuff?"
"NO!" Soldier shouted.
"My ears hurt." Spy said.
"PRIVATE YOU HAVE HEARD EXPLOSIONS THAT ARE MORE LOUDER. IF I DIDN’T KNOW YOU ANY BETTER I WOULD HAVE MISTAKEN YOU FOR A PUSSY."
"I don’t believe that "more louder" is…"
"SETTLE DOWN, FRENCH TART! THIS IS NOT ENGLISH LITERATURE AND SCIENCE CLASS, THIS IS THE ART. OF. KEEPING. YOUR. ASS. ALIVE." He pounded on the table with each word to give it (albeit unneeded) emphasis. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?"
"Yes." Spy replied, lifting his hand to his ear when Soldier turned around to scribble illegible shapes and letters on the marker board behind him. Now that everyone was quiet, he had everyone’s attention.
"According to the papers that Spy was able to bring back from their base, they will be attacking ours from behind, at 0300 Wednesday morning. Now, that isn’t something that’s exactly new but my concern is who is attacking first and where."
"What is it?"
"Spies. They’re going to have at least three Spy clones infiltrating our base, to steal ammo and guns from the supply room."
"We crush little baby Spies, then!" A very large and enthusiastic looking man bellowed.
"Who’s that." Wynter whispered to Scout.
"Heavy."
"Well yeah I know he’s large but who is he?"
"No, literally. Heavy. That’s what we call him."
"Ah."
"It’s not that simple, pal." Scout spoke up, talking to Heavy. "I mean, you’ve seen ‘em. They can make themselves invisible n’ shit. And three of ‘em? That’s…. that’s a problem."
"And boarding up doesn’t work because they could disguise as any one of us, dang well getting by before we realize they’re up to somethin’." A small man wearing a hardhat replied.
"That’s Engineer. Engie for short." Scout whispered to Wynter, "And that tall lanky guy wearing a hat is Sniper, and the guy wearing the gas mask is Pyro. Doesn’t say much, just kinda, yanno, sits there."
Wynter nodded, quietly observing the team as they discussed the current situation. They were a curious bunch, and it was interesting to see how they interacted. For someone who’d only been around one person (with the exception of a few allies met along the way) her whole life, ten people in one room seemed almost like a city.
It was intimidating as well as strangely comforting all at the same time.
"Ach, and spy-checking would prove ta be painful." Demoman said.
"What’s Sp-"
"Basically, setting a teammate on fire to see if they’re a BLU spy or not." Sniper said to Wynter, "It’s not the most practical way but it’s… effective?"
"I read about Spies in the folder Spy gave me. Are they the hardest class to defeat?"
"It greatly depends what your abilities in combat are. They’re mainly a stealth class, so if you can catch ‘em in time, they wouldn’t be much of a problem. But you’ve gotta be quick."
"Yeah, you’ve been taken down by plenty of spies in your time." Scout laughed, much to Sniper’s embarassment.
"It’s not somethin’ I like to talk about."
"But you’re a sniper." Wynter said, "You sit there in a roost or whatever with your eyes to the battleground, it kind of makes sense you’d be singled out by spies."
"When you put it that way, yes. But either way we gotta figure out how we’re gonna protect the goods, if we don’t have ammo and guns we’re not gonna have anything."
"What if I watched the ammo?" Wynter offered, "If anyone wants to teach me hand to hand combat, I already know basics on guns. If we put all the guns and ammo in the same place and I kept watch, would you still have to worry about it?"
Medic scoffed, “I have a better idea. Let’s just hand all ze weapons and ammo to ze BLU team. It’ll be less embarassing zhat way and we can all die with a little bit of pride.”
"The lil’ lasseh has a point, doc." Demoman said, "Even if she’s a lil’ incompetent she’ll be in a room fulla guns and weapons."
"Demoman, you are drunk." Medic said with a wave of his hand, as if dismissing the Scot, "It is a terrible idea."
"It’s not a great idea but it’s not terrible." Scout said, "I mean, it’d take the load of worrying about getting our shit theived off our shoulders."
"Unless she gets herself killed in the process, which is exactly my point."
"Wynter, I’ll leave the desicion up to you." Soldier said, "I think it’d be a good idea if we had you trained well, and I don’t see anyone else who would be nearly as useful keeping watch as they would on the field."
"Train me and I’ll do it." Wynter replied, "You said we’ve got two days, right?"
"Is two days going to be enough?"
"That’s your call, not mine."
Soldier shrugged. “You’ll have to train hard.”
"I’m willing to do that."
"Okay, then."
Soldier crossed off something on the board and scribbled what appeared to be Wynter’s name above it. “Wynter will be keeping watch for spies. We’ve got ammo and guns in three different locations around the base, Heavy, you’re going to help me bring all of them to the storage unit on the west side of the base. Understood?”
"Yes. For honor of team."
"So what happens after the spies?" Scout asked, "Are they really gonna pull the same shit they did last time?"
"It appears so." Spy interrupted, "Which concerns me greatly."
"Why? The easier it is for us if they’re just going to keep using the same battle tactics!" Soldier laughed.
"Yes, but I think they’re doing it to get us used to certain things. Think about it. If we learn to expect this from them, and we get too comfortable… then, they can take us by surprise."
"Are you paranoid?" Soldier asked with a laugh.
"No, I’m just suggesting that everyone keep on their toes."
"Duh." Scout chuckled.
Spy shot the boy a disapproving look before taking a cigarette out of the pack from inside his jacket.
Soldier cleared his throat in satisfaction and put the marker down on the table. “Well then, it sounds like we’ve had a sucessful briefing. Is everyone clear on what we have to do as well as strategies you will all be using?”
Everybody nodded.
"You’re all dismissed, then. Except for you, Wynter. I have some matters I want to discuss with you."
Medic scoffed a little as he got up and shot a look in her direction as he exited the room with the other men, the door closing in behind.
"What’s wrong?" She asked quietly, instantly thinking it was something bad.
"Nothing. I just want to be sure you’re clear and you understand what you’re getting yourself into."
"I do, Soldier." She stood up, "And while we’re here, I have a question for you."
"What?"
"Why is everyone here called by what they do?"
Soldier was silent for a minute, as if confused by her question. “You know what, that’s a good question I don’t have the answer to. Feeling left out, are ya?” He patted her on the head like a puppy.
"Well…" Now that he mentioned it, having her own class name did sound pretty cool. "Nah, I was just wondering. It’s just a little strange to think nobody here has a name."
"They do, we all have names, we just got in the habit of using class names as nicknames. You don’t have to if you don’t want, but you’d have to ask first. And as for you yourself, uh…" He paused for a moment, "I can’t give you a class until we know what you’re doing."
"Yeah, I figured."
"I think you’ll find your place here soon enough. It’s gonna be a bad time for you if you don’t!" Soldier laughed. Wynter joined, though slightly uneasily as she knew she already had to prove herself to at least a few of the other mercs.
"So you’re positive you want to guard the guns and ammo from the spies, then?"
"Yes."
"Now do it the right way."
Wynter caught on quick; standing straight and saluting him with her hand. “Yes, Sir.”
Soldier saluted her back, glad she seemed to catch on to things quickly. “Did Spy show you around like he said he would? More specifically the sleeping quarters?”
"Yes…. Yes, Sir." She said, correcting herself as soon as she made a mistake. "He showed me where they were, anyway…"
"Good. Let’s see if there’s an empty room we can board you up in." Soldier said, leading her out of the briefing room.