Radioactive - Chapter 4

A/N. People! If you have a DeviantArt account and wanna help me out with a little project I like to call Team BLK Project (just TBP or BLK for short), go to DevArt, search for a user called Rexcaliburr (with 2 Rs) and look at my journal! (I also post Radioactive there the same time I post each chapter here)

Horst and his cat Schnaps (who guest-starred last chapter) belong to Derwen on DevArt
TF2 belongs to Valve
Terri belongs to me.

Enjoy!

Horst was roused from his sleep by a gentle pat on the face with a soft paw. He opened one weary eye, and was greeted with Schnaps staring at him, her eyes boring into his face. With a grunt, Horst propped himself up with one arm, completely regretting not having gone to bed like he knew he should have and instead letting himself fall asleep at his table with the excuse of needing to finish paperwork.

He closed his eyes again, allowing himself just a bit more sleep, but Schnaps wouldn’t have it and pawed him again, this time with more force and a louder meow.

“Ach…” he mumbled as he slowly pushed himself to his feet, wincing at the stiffness in his back. “Why did you let me sleep at my table?” Schnaps didn’t quite seem to care about answering the question, only pawing at her bowl insistently and sniffing the empty bowl.

With a heavy sigh, he shuffled over to the bag of cat food, grabbing it and dragging it across the floor back to the bowl. He tipped the food in, gently stroking Schnaps as she buried her face in the food eagerly.  With a hand, he reached across the table for his glasses, slipping them on and shuffling out the door, eyes half closed.


The smell of pancakes wafted through the hallway of rooms, accompanied by a bright, merry whistling that everyone knew as Pyro’s. The firebug had a distinctive whistle; it was always cheerful and didn’t have a particular melody. And it came at any time of the day when Pyro was relaxed. Even when strolling away from a mauled corpse, swinging his bloody axe with one hand and searching for his next victim. He’d whistle.

Most of the team woke up at the sound and smell of pancakes, except for Sniper and Heavy, the first of which wasn’t around to smell the pancakes and the latter didn’t quite care for them. Scout had come out first, in a simple red shirt similar to his uniform and in light grey shorts. He yawned, slamming a fist on every door he passed and yelling, “’Ey, breakfast!”

Terri jerked awake as Scout pounded his fist on her door, tangling herself in sheets. “I uhh… nngh…” she mumbled as she sank down into the sheets again, tossing them aside. The sheets slipped onto the floor, but no move was made to pick them as the Huntress rolled into a sitting position, yawning and one hand rubbing her eye lazily.

She leaned forward and pulled the blanket back onto the bed, pushing herself up and onto her feet. She shuffled out the door and to the table where the team apparently always met for breakfast.

“G’mornin’,” Engineer greeted as the sleepy girl joined them at the table, collapsing into a chair. Sniper had already come in and was at the table, newspaper in hand, coffee mug on the table. Without asking, Terri grabbed the mug and took a sip of the coffee. Sniper said nothing, though he had obviously seen the action. He didn’t really care, since she was his cousin. But if it had been anyone else he’d have gone into a fit.

“Morning,” Terri mumbled in return as she set down the cup again. Pyro returned to the table, balancing plates of hot pancakes on his arms and setting them at the table. She mumbled her thanks before splatting a good lot of butter on the pancakes, spreading it around with her knife.

Later today there would be another match, and she’d have to-

The team (or whatever part of the team who were there) was staring at her. Why were they staring at her? “Uh… lassie,” Demo started, eyes directed to her hand. She glanced down, before suddenly leaping back. The knife – or whatever remained of the knife – clattered on the table. The rest of the knife had corroded away.

No. No no no. This wasn’t happening. She was sure she wasn’t hallucinating or anything now, this was real. “Shit,” she hissed, turning and rushing out of the room. Demo glanced at Sniper, then at Pyro, then at Engineer, a silent prompt if anyone wanted to go after her. No one had gotten up. Engineer shrugged. “I’m sure she’s just left some of that corrosive stuff on her hands last night,” he offered. The four of them pushed the knife away, and the thought, to the back of their minds.

Terri had disappeared outside, staring at her hands. What the hell – magic didn’t happen in this world. This was absolutely ridiculous. She leaned against the wall outside, tilting her head to stare at the sky, bright with the morning sun.

Okay okay, first things first. She needed to figure out what her hands could corrode and what it couldn’t. She thought back to last night. She had broken the door handle of the bathroom, and the shower tap, but not her toothbrush. Her blanket, bed, room door handle hadn’t melted away either. But the knife had. Curiously, she stepped forward to the bridge, placing her hand on the wooden frame. Nothing. No sizzling, nothing gave way. Okay, at least it wasn’t ridiculously powerful that she could corrode wood. So, only metal that she touched would melt away, but her door handle was made out of metal too… it hadn’t melted under her touch. So was it only that anything that wasn’t hers gave way to her hands?

Only one way to find out. On the opposite side of the fort there was a metal barrel that belonged to the BLUs. Quietly, she crossed the bridge, all the while staring up at the BLU fort to make sure no one saw her do what she was about to do. She approached the barrel, lightly brushing the tips of her fingers across it.

With a soft sizzle, the metal turned black and crumbled away, leaving dents where her fingers had rubbed against. With a foot, she nudged the black dust on the floor, and only then did she realize she had left the base without shoes, and that was enough to send her sprinting back.

She returned to the table, careful about what her hands touched. To her relief, those who had seen her earlier didn’t say anything, and the broken knife was gone. Sniper cast her a subtle knowing look, but said nothing, and flicked his newspaper again, mumbling a greeting to Medic as he dragged himself out to the kitchen.

“Guten morgen, Herr Snip- vhat is this?” Medic asked as he pulled out the broken fork, hidden behind a row of dishes. Huntress stiffened at the sight, and Engineer, who whipped around, took it from him. “Just a broken knife, founded it lying in the corner with rust eating away at it,” he said, taking a look at the knife before tossing it out. Medic rolled his eyes. “Ve should seriously clear zhis place out sometime,” he muttered, taking a cup down from the rack and pouring himself coffee.

Terri sunk down in her chair once the knife was gone, and slipped a piece of paper between her fingers and the fork as she ate before anything else corroded under her touch. Spy’s eyes flickered to the paper, but he chose to remain silent.

Breakfast was as always, Soldier talking about America, Demo yelling back that Scotland was so much better, Sniper ignoring the both of them, Medic quickly finishing his food before going back to his Infirmary with Heavy following.

Engineer collected the plates and dumped them in the dishwasher. As mercenaries, none of them had the time for washing dishes and none of them liked it either. The dishwasher hadn’t been provided, but in one of their road trips into the city, they had pooled together some cash to buy one.

“What’s our game today?” Terri asked, her mind off the knife for a while. Sniper shrugged. “Probably payload or control point, I dunno. Don’t matter ta me anyway. All games are the same to a support cla- Pyro, keep that thing away from me,” he said, nudging the nozzle of the flamethrower off his lap. With an incoherent apology, he shifted his flamethrower aside, pointing the barrel away from Sniper’s lap and under the table instead.

Terri got up, wandering over to Pyro. “Is that homemade?” she asked, kneeling down beside the firebug to take a look at the flamethrower. With a happy cheer, Pyro nodded, stroking a hand down the flamethrower. Terri, wide-eyed at the weapon, raised a hand. “Whoa…. May I?” she prompted. Pyro nodded and let Terri feel the flamethrower. It felt nice, probably comfortable to hold. Not so much for her, it seemed heavy. But it looked good, very good, for something self-made.


“Mission begins in sixty seconds,” the Administrator’s sharp voice hissed over the intercom. The battle today was situated in Nucleus, and being the first time here, Terri was pretty scared by the whole place. It looked huge and scary. Sniper had explained the whole concept of King of the Hill already, but she wasn’t too sure what good a support class like her would do.

“Yer doing good out there, lassie,” Demo said, patting her on the back. In return she gave a smile. “Thanks.”

“Mission begins in thirty seconds.” Terri cracked her knuckles before drawing an arrow, keeping the bow slack first. She didn’t want it to lose tension by pulling the arrow back now, so she kept the string relaxed.

From the window at the side of the Respawn room, she could see the BLU Respawn room, and a familiar face watching her.

As Horst noticed the girl turn to look at him, he directed his eyes away, stepping away from the window. He’d get his chance to meet with her later. For now, he had to focus. Silently, he activated the Medigun, feeling the power charge through his hands into the machine, amplifying his power to charge the Heavy.

“Mission begins in ten seconds.” In that few seconds she had to gather herself, Terri frowned, flicking her hair back from her shoulder. She glanced down at her hands, realizing that her arrow had not corroded under her fingers. Lovely. She’d had to make sure she didn’t touch anything that would give her away.

But one question clouded her mind: Could her touch kill a person?