A Little Fire Never Hurt (tf2 fanfic)

Meet-n-Greet

NARRATOR POV:

A month passed, and soon the team was notified of the new arrangement. An old library was cleared out for the new room for the girl. As per the word of the engineer, no one except him was to touch the old room of Pyro. Pauling soon had a pick-up date to meet Sparks to bring her back to base.

The morning soon came and Ms. Pauling smiled, eager to get on the road to let Sparks meet the team. As she arrived at the diner they had met at she and Sparks walked out of the establishment, Pauling stopped, wanting to give a brief warning before they continue.

"Sparks, listen, the team youre about to meet is, rough. Theyve had a tough time with their old coworkers death, and their usually crazy as is. And to mention also, theyre.... all men.." She calmly stated, letting Sparks process it.

Sparks gazed at the women, unfazed by what she hear, "Pssh- i can deal with men, do it all the time. As for the death, ill be easy on them. You told me to give the Engineer guy some space, ill do just that" she agreed.

Pauling laughed, "If only the others were as accepting as you" she sighed.

Ms. Pauling helped Sparks on her moped, strapped her in, and told her to "hang on". Leaving the diner parking lot, they sped off, Sparks onto her new life.

"Pauling," Sparks yelled over the noise of the moped, "didnt you tell me there was another at the base with a weird ability?!"

Pauling yelled back, "Not quite an ability, sorta.. he has a watch thats able to change his appearance to people around him, or turn him invisible!"

"alright" Sparks mumbled to herself, "guess i need to watch for him too."

(45 minutes later)

The moped came to a slow stop, arriving at a cliffside, Pauling took her helmet off and led Sparks to the side of the mountain. Confused, Sparks silently stood there, fiddling with her new knife inside her jean pocket.

Pauling called the young girl over, showing her a keypad among one of the rocks, typing in the numbers quickly she turned around to face Sparks.

"Now that youll be joining us, youll have to learn the passcodes, this one is a simple keypad, code is 4951. Now, through this door are two drones, they sit above the doorway, theyll whitelist any new members, or teammates, and can distinguish people who are intruders acting like said teammates." she stated matter-of-factly.

Sparks nodded, trying to keep track of the new information given to her. Pauling sighed slightly, startling Sparks as she turned around.

"I may have forgot to mention... one of your new co-workers is extremely... flirty...the last time i visited he was still, different, but just as a warning" she cringed at the thought of him.

Sparks laughed, sighing, "Ill be alright, if he so much as touches me, hes dead." She smiled.

Pauling quietly sucked in some air, quickly turning as the door opened, bracing herself.

Dust poured from the top of the door, as it obviously has not been used in quite some time, stepping in after sheltering herself with her helmet, Pauling motioned Sparks to follow. Quietly tagging behind Ms. Pauling, Sparks was on high alert, taking in the slightly dark hallway, to the buzzing of the drones Pauling mentioned, to the rustic and earthy smell of the hallway. Walking down a corridor, Pauling pointed out a small bathroom in the middle, reassuring it works, just looks "unclean" as she stated.

The quiet buzzing of the fluorescent lights in the hall made everything seem eerie, not to mention the soft squeak of Sparks converse hitting the ground, and the significant 'clack' of Paulings heels.

At the end of the hall was a simply metal door, Pauling pulled out a small key, unlocking it. She turned to Sparks, remarking she needed her own key too. Past the door was some noise, sounding like two men having a conversation, one, a thick and obvious texan accent, quietly talking with a french man.

Sparks never was nervous, but hearing the two speak suddenly made her clammy. Concentrating on her breathing she continued to walk behind Ms. Pauling. Reaching for her knife in her pocket, she fiddled with the handle, careful to not prick herself.
Pauling seemed to pick up on the erratic behavior, not turning back she sighed softly.

"I get you're nervous but it'll be ok, everyone's nervous on their first day" she stated.

Since Sparks still felt uneasy, the words soothed her to some extent. Taking a breath in and releasing it with a loud 'whoosh', her heart slowed and her thoughts became clear again. As Pauling opened the door, Sparks was awaited with new smells, and including new interactions. Upon opening the door it opened up into a kitchen. The line of counters, sinks, and stoves, were along the wall to the left, as with three, large, octagon shaped tables to her right.

As Pauling opened the door, making an obvious squeak. The two men turned, ceasing their conversation, to what Sparks caught bits of, sounded like the new "replacement". Sparks turned into her usual, stone-cold self to meeting new people. They glanced at Pauling, and upon seeing a new face, all eyes on her.

The french man was smoking a pipe, wore an obvious crimson red suit, with a red mask (to which Sparks found strange). The other man, was a smaller build, no taller than 5"6, wore a hardhat, and goggles.

"Hes wearing goggles indoors? Jesus.." Sparks thought, groaning inwardly.

The engineer, although you couldnt see his eyes, could sense he was glaring Sparks down, eyeing her like a wolf among sheep. Eyeing Ms. Pauling, he knew what this was. The replacement. Huffing, he walked forward, still inspecting Sparks. The frenchman eyed the new woman, then quickly made his way over, the smell of cherry tobacco quite overwhelming.

"She? I thought we settled on someone alike us.. male, Ms. Pauling" the frenchman spoke, swift but carefully choosing his words.

"We did, but, after interviewing and questioning, her qualifications were surpassed with her raw talent and skill, and now in the world, skill is more needed than the minimum" she sighed.

"The minimum?" the smaller man cut in, "We all know Pyro did well more than the fucking minimum!" the smaller man hissed.

Taken aback by his words, Sparks settled her gaze on the man. Who angrily stood in front of her.

"She'll never 'replace' him, she looks barely qualified enough! Just look at her!" he snarled.

(to be continued >:) )

word count: 1117