In Need of Assistance? (TF2)

Twenty-Six: Fear

"No no no no no no--!" He caterwauls as we swing him over the railing, and his head hits the bow as he goes down rendering him silent. He's too small to make a splash or a splat like expected, but he's at least out of the way. We look over to where the other brother would've been had we killed him. He's gone.

"Let's not linger for too long," I suggest, picking up Pyro's fire ax and handing it back to him. Pyro runs ahead of us to check out the lobby, Sniper and I walking back without much haste as people gather to the railings of the upper decks to check down below.

"Sheila," he starts, "we've gotta talk about it."

"It?"

"It." He looks down at me. "You're obviously not over a lot of things like you say you are."

"If you're talking about what happened with Scout," I sigh, "that doesn't mean I'm not over it. I'm allowed my privacy, and he was trying to pry it out of my hands."

"Luv, there's a difference between keeping things private and bottlin' up your troubles," he fixes the collar on his polo shirt. "You deflect."

"No, I don't," I weakly argue. "I just like to have my private stuff private."

"You did it when we were at the market, you did it to Engie when we came back, you did it to me again when we were at the fort before we left, and Scout told me you did it for a great bit before you exploded on 'im," he lists my previous incidents. "Luv, you're not alright, so stop acting like you are."

"But I am," I huff. "If I wasn't I wouldn't have come back to you guys." He's beginning to get on my nerves. "I don't want to talk about it, so we're not going to talk about it. You can't make me."

"You said it yourself: you need the money. You're here because you have to be, not because you want to be."

"And you guys want to be here?" I counter.

"If we didn't we'd be retired. I've been doing this snipin' thing for over two decades, only just nine years ago did I start doing it to people. With how many jobs I've been given, I have enough to send my parents into retirement and cover the costs for both of them to sleep in Sydney when the time comes, still 'aving thousands in the bank for later. We're doing this because we want to, Luv, trust me on that one.

"You, on the other hand, aren't very complacent with the work and the people around ya. It's not too difficult to guess what you saw when that spy was hanging over you like that. You don't gotta be 'appy about it, but you gotta be okay. And I know you're not okay."

I take a deep breath. "That's what you think."

"That's what I know," he interrupts. "I'm not the best at expressing or picking up on emotions, but all of us on the team are able to sense what's inside you." He stands in front of me and leans over to whisper in my ear, a finger forcefully pressing down on my chest. "Fear."

I side-step around him. "Again, that's what you think. I don't fear you or anything. If I did, why would I bring the two people who did stuff to me with me?"

"Deductive reasoning. We're the most lethal to you, so it only makes sense."

We make it to the opening with Pyro, and I look up at him. "I'm not afraid of you, and the two of you were the only ones available. Heavy and Soldier were originally my first picks."

"Which proves my point further."

"Now you're just reaching, Sniper. I don't fear you, you're not a threat to m--" He grabs me by the collar and pushes me up against the wall near the opening, lifting me off of my feet. He pulls out his knife and holds the tip to my neck. My body shivers. "Sniper, stop it!" I beg and use all of the strength I can muster to push his hand away, trying to wriggle out of his grip. He stares at me long and hard, observing me as I struggle and whimper to keep the knife away from my skin.