Till Death Do Us Part

The sun had begun to rise over an undisclosed location in a New Mexico desert.

Dale was not an early riser. He grumbled to himself as he entered the canteen, his head still sore and eyes glazed over. Like usual, he could help himself the mound of fried bacon and eggs, plain white bread, and bitter black coffee. Whoever had kitchen duty today had done quite a good job cooking; although Dale never noticed the difference.

With his plate piled high, he slid down onto one of the canteen chairs, and began to eat with the fervor of a starving animal.";

Leon was still half asleep as he came bumbling in a stupor around the corner. He could go a couple of days without sleeping, but once he was asleep he was hard to wake up. He hated waking up and God help the person who poked him in his sleep.
So he wasn't exactly the happiest person in the world right at this moment. He could've slept another couple of hours, but alas, apparently there was something more important to be doing right now. Apparently this thing was eating breakfast.
Oh, whatever. He growled to himself as he bumped into a wall, shaking his head to finish getting himself fully conscious and grabbing some toast and some coffee.
"Morning," he finally mumbled to Dale when he realized there was someone else in the canteen besides himself.

Dale looked up as he heard someone approach and sit next to him. For some reason, people didn't often sit next to him - and the company instantly put him in a good mood. "Hey!" Dale replied, with his usual cheer.

He didn't know the team Sniper very well. After all, while Dale was right up in the front lines showing them BLUs a thing or two, the Sniper was hiding on a roof or something. Why did the company even hire this guy?

"You know man, I'm not even sure the BLUs are gonna turn up today. Not after the arse-kicking I gave em yesterday," he said with a cocky grin. "You oughta team up with me on the battlefield today. Might learn a thing or two about fighting-while-not-standing-a-mile-away."

Leon blinked, frowning slightly as he tried to keep up with Dale's rapid-fire chatter.
"Look," he finally said slowly, "I'm still not fully awake yet so if you're going to try to engage me in a conversation I suggest going slow at first. The only thing I really caught in there was something about an arse-kicking...?" He shrugged, munching on his toast in a placid manner and rubbing his eyes once his hands were free. "Again, but slower, if you don't mind."

He couldn't even keep up with a simple conversation? Maybe this guy was pretty stupid. It'd sure explain why he was always hiding up on the roof. He shovelled a few more rashers of bacon into his mouth - eyeing small serving of food the Sniper had brought for himself.

"Oh. Well." He scratched his chin, thinking about how to continue. "We thrashed..." No, 'thrashed' was a far too complex word - he'd never understand it. "We beat those BLUs yesterday." He spoke very precisely, with a condescending pause between each word. "We beat them very badly, because we rule and they suck. But, I think we should team up for this next battle. It would be fun, don't you agree?"

Leon raised an eyebrow at him, noting the tone of voice Dale was using. He was just tired, not an idiot. He'd have to remember that, although he wouldn't address it now.
"I don't know," he mused as he drank his coffee. "Who else would watch your scrawny behind from the rooftop? I'm not the best at hand to hand, buddy. I think it'd just be asking for trouble, to be frankly honest."

Dale raised a single finger. "Firstly," he began with a slight chuckle, "My butt aint scrawny. Secondly," he raised another finger. "I'd prefer if you weren't watchin' my butt - ya creep. And finally, There aint a single person who can catch my butt. Ask anyone! Dale McCarthy is the fastest around."

He pouted - slightly disappointed at the Sniper's refusal of his invitation. "Well if you don't wanna come down to the front lines with me, I might just have to come help ya out from the rooftop. Keep ya safe from spies." He said with a serious nod.

"It's a saying," he began but finally decided that it wasn't worth arguing. He sighed when Dale went at it again, pondering the offer before raising an eyebrow. He wasn't a stupid man, despite Dale's initial first impression. "You're not gonna leave me alone until I say yes to something, are you? Fine. I can handle myself, but if you must come along, come along. Just don't get in my way." He stood up again and walked to get more coffee, figuring that he'd have to drink the whole pot to tolerate this guy for the day.
Too bad he couldn't put booze in it too. But he needed his skills sharp today, so it was probably for the best. Last thing he needed was to shoot one of his own teammates by accident; he did that and he'd never hear the end of it, especially from this Dale character.
"I'm Leon, by the way," he said as he refilled his coffee cup. "Leon Daggett. I would say that's it's nice to meet you, but I'm still not entirely sure if that's the truth." A small smile graced his lips and he shook his head slightly, running a hand through his thick brownish black hair.

Dale lacked subtlety. The scowl on his face after the words 'I'm still not entirely sure if that's the truth' was clear and unashamed. "Yeah, well. Nice to meet'cha Leon." He stuffed the last of his bacon and egg into his mouth - loudly chewed it and swallowed it in one gulp. Dale probably at the most on the team - even more than the larger men. However, he was constantly energetic. He didn't only run up and down the battlefield - but hardly ever walked throughout the base. Despite his enormous appetite, he still had a stringy, lightly muscled figure.

He took the plate back to the kitchen, following Leon as he helped himself to another cup of coffee. "Where ya from, anyway?"

This kid took everything way too seriously. He hadn't honestly meant it; but he was always this brusque to people he had just met and started to talk to. If Dale hung around him long he'd be surprised. He normally scared people away after a day or two. There was a reason he didn't have many friends (or any friends at all, now that he thought about it) and normally was alone up in a tower.
Blast.
"D.C.," he replied in answer to Dale's question, arching his back in a stretch as he studied the kid. "You?"

"D.C. eh? Wasn't expectin' that. That's a bit of a boring place, aint it? Me?" Couldn't the Sniper guess? Dale's thick accent was a dead-giveaway. "I'm from Boston, man. The slums." The first half was true. The second half was a gross exaggeration. A working-class, single mother - but not near the rough street life he liked to pretend he lived. The worst trouble he ever got into resulted in detention at school.

He removed his hat, and ran a hair through his auburn hair, then slid the ear-piece that had been hanging loosely around his neck, up over his ear. "Come on man, hurry up and eat some more." That megre plate of toast wasn't enough to tide a man through an entire battle. He didn't want this guy whining he was hungry half way through the fight. "The battle's gon' start. They'll putcha on kitchen duty if you're not ready."

"Yeah. No exciting accent or anything. Just D.C." Leon shrugged, reluctantly eating another piece of toast. "That's what I figured, I just couldn't place it exactly." He frowned slightly as he thought about it. "You know, I don't think I've ever been to Boston. Farthest I've ever been from D.C. until now was New York." He sighed, finishing his coffee, crumpling the paper cup into a ball with one hand, and tossing it in the trash. "I need to fix that. Anyways, I hope they don't put me on kitchen duty. I'd end up killing everyone here, I'm that bad. Only thing I can make somewhat decent is waffles." A silent chuckle shook his shoulders and he started heading back to snag his Sniper Rifle and Kukri in case of close encounters with any BLUs. "So what're you gonna be doing again? Watching my back or something?"
He hoped Dale wouldn't shove more food on him; he didn't really feel like eating and he was never really hungry this early in the morning. He normally ate the most after the brawls, when he was the most tired. And if Leon Daggett wasn't anything, it was a whiner. One thing he had learned throughout his life was that whining got you nowhere and just made people want to beat you up. Of course, so did insulting people (he needed to work on that) but it was a different kind of hate than the hate of a whiner.

"Yeah man, I'm gonna have your back. Keep on guard for backstabbers. I'm bein' downright generous here. I could be up there, in the front lines, stealin all the glory. You probably don't get a real good view of me kickin' arse through your scope, but maybe today you'll get a chance to see me at work." Dale flexed - clearly impressed by his stringy, unremarkable arms. After a moment of showing off, he shot Leon a smarmy grin.

Suddenly, interrupting Dale's unimpressive bragging, an announcement rang through the base.

Mission starts in 5 minutes.

The woman's voice echoed throughout the base - the few mercenaries who remained in the common-room sprang to attention, running to gather their weaponry and dashing to their position on the battlefield. "Come on man, let's get moving. Take me to your favourite window or whatever."

Leon was kind of amused by the skinny man's boasts, although he quickly got himself in the zone once the voice rang through the base. His quiver was filled with arrows and his Huntsman for silent kills. The Sniper Rifle was slung across his shoulder, a couple more rounds in his vest pockets, and the Kukri in its sheath at his hip. He adjusted his shades and hat to block the sunlight, then took a deep breath.
Game on.
"I have a couple of different positions I alternate in, just to try to throw them off, but I'll take you to the best. I swear, I can see everything up there," he said, taking a look around before heading in that direction. He was bad at directions but he had started to memorize the layout of the place, so it was getting easier.

Dale followed Leon through the empty corridors and up several flights of stairs. He hardly ever had the need to travel in this direction, but he'd been with the team for quite a while now, and understood which general direction they were going in.

Mission starts in 30 seconds.

Dale's took the final few stairs in twos, finally stepping onto the battlements. It was a long, thin, and mostly featureless room. Several square windows lined one wall. The glass had been shot out - probably years ago. Several crates were scattered around the room, used by the different RED snipers over the years.

Mission starts in 10 seconds.

"So this is it, huh?" Dale lent out the nearest window. Leon had been right, there was a clear view of most of the battlefield from up here. He could see the team's Heavy and Medic taking cover around the corner, and the Engineer finishing up a teleporter.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

A siren rang out through the battlefield. The gates opened, instantly the sound of explosions and gunfire began to echo throughout the valley. The day's fight had begun.

Leon nodded solemnly, taking his position at the window and loading his Sniper Rifle with nimble fingers. He then brought it up to his shoulder and peered through the scope.
A crack echoed through the small room as Leon targeted a BLU Soldier, reloading in satisfaction as the enemy fell and didn't get back up.
"Headshot," he murmured to himself before raising his voice to talk to Dale. "If I'm quiet it's 'cause I'm not used to being up here with someone. I talk to myself occasionally, but other than that I'm silent. So feel free to talk to me, but I can't exactly guarantee I'll reply right away." Another crack sounded as he downed a BLU Engineer trying to do something destructive with his machine.

(Now, if they die, is it permanent, or do they respawn or something after the fight?)
(EDIT: 'a smissmass story' is now my favorite comic of all time xD)

[OOC: I love Smissmas story! I prefer to play with respawn! My headcannon is that respawn takes about 10 minutes of time, and is a sickening and very unpleasant experience. So even though you come back, death is a thing you want to avoid!]

Leaning out the window, Dale watched the battle unfold below him. He saw the RED team rush forward - the Demoman and Soldier leaping through the air, propelled by explosions. From the far end, the BLU team approached. Suddenly, the enemy Soldier dropped Leon muttered 'headshot' to himself.

"Woah, impressive shot," Dale said with a sincere grin. He continued to watch for a few minutes as Leon picked off targets. However, it wasn't long before Dale grew bored. He wasn't used to standing still for such a long period of time. His legs were getting itchy. This was impossible! He needed to make noise and run around. He groaned to himself, and looked around the room for something to do.

He pulled a baseball from his messenger bag, throwing it against the far wall. It hit with a heavy thunk, and Dale dove to catch it. "You like baseball?" he said to the Sniper's back. The ball hit the wall again with another thunk. "The RED Sox are gonna win this season you know."

Slowly slinking up the stairs behind them, wearing the mask of the RED engineer, the BLU Spy paused to listen to their conversation.

(Ok, thanks )

"Thanks." He reloaded and watched through the scope, looking for any other BLUs that could potentially be seen as threats. He had just rested his sights on a BLU Scout when Dale threw the baseball against the wall. The loud sound startled him and he whipped around, Kukri in his hand, ready to start whacking at whatever it was that was making the sound.
He slowly relaxed again once he saw that it was only Dale venting his energy, sheathing his blade once more and looking for the Scout- he was gone. He growled to himself in disappointment before answering Dale's question.
"I don't really follow baseball, or any sports, really. Sometimes I turn on a game if I'm sick or really bored and have nothing better to do. But usually I sleep during those times, so I don't really watch sports a whole lot. I'm kinda weird that way." He stopped talking as a BLU Pyro was seen chasing a group of REDs, flamethrower already spitting heat at the Medic and Heavy, and with one swift shot the fire-happy BLU was put down. "You're welcome, boys."

"Really?" Dale whined. "Man that's kinda lame. It takes a lot of skill," he throws the ball against the wall once more - - thwack. "watching it on TV is okay, but it's more fun to actually see a live game." -thwack. "But you should try playing it yourself, that's the best" -thwack.

He was completely oblivious to the distraction he was causing. "I played pretty much all my life. So of course, I'm the best," he said with a laugh. "In fact, I got offered a position with the Red Sox. It's true!" It was a total lie. Thwack! "I had to turn em down though. I'm not looking for a life in the spotlight." Another total lie.

The Spy had listened enough. The one-sided conversation wasn't going to divulge any information about RED's strategy. He prepared his dagger and cloaked, slinking into the room. He would take out the Sniper first. The Scout wasn't even holding his weapons. He would come next. He positioned himself behind the sniper, and decloaked.

The only thing that saved Leon was what remained of the glass. There wasn't a whole lot of glass left on the window, but there was one shard that sort of jutted out, determined not to fall out of the window frame. It was in this piece of glass that there was a hint of a reflection- just a flash of blue and silver- and then Leon's instincts took over.
"DALE!" he yelled as he started to whirl, unsheathing his Kukri again and taking a swing at the Spy. Whether it hit or not would depend upon the Spy's reflexes, which were probably better than Leon's. The Sniper wasn't good at hand-to-hand, and his first attack was always the most erratic. He just hoped that Dale would help before he got filleted like a fish.