It was a warm day in Teufort; desert winds blowing from the East and the sun beating down on the rocky and desolate land. In the almost endless nothing sat a fortress housing nine deadly mercenaries. And these deadly mercs...were doing basically nothing. As it was a ceasefire, the boys in BLU were all doing their own activities to save themselves from boredom. In the living room, Heavy sat quietly and ate his sandwich while Pyro played with balloonicorn. On the other hand, Scout, Sniper, Soldier, Demo, and Medic played Poker. Two mercs were missing from the bunch, those being Engie and Spy, who were in their respective the poker game was coming to an end, the last bets were being placed.

"I'm out. I don' wanna lose me last bottle a' scrumpy to this god forsaken hand," Demo grumbled, throwing his cards down.

Well der Bekanntenkreis, I vill bet $20 und a bottle of mien beer," Medic says confidently as he pushes his bet into the middle.

"Call maggot!" Soldier says as he dumps $20 dollars and a beer into the growing pile. Scout grins and says nothing as he throws his bet into the pile as well. Sniper does the same, minus the grinning, but there was an air of superiority coming from his person. When it came time to flip cards, Medic had a full house while Soldier threw down a pair of Kings.

"Ha! Read 'em and weep fellas," Scout shouted victoriously as he showed off his straight flush. Soldier and Medic groaned at the young man but Sniper just smirked, showing Scout his hand; a royal flush. Growling, Scout stood up and stomped like an angry child. "You cheated! There's no way you got a freakin' royal flush!"

Shrugging, Sniper took the pot, consisting of liquor and cash. Scout sat back down grumbling, his mood soiled. Demo laughed at the young Bostonian, happy he decided to fold early. As they set up for another round, Spy walked out of his smoking room.

"G'day to ya mate. Finally done sulkin'?" Sniper asked Spy as the Frenchman blew his cigarette smoke into the air.

"Salut mon frére. And I was not 'sulking', I was simply thinking."

The rest of the crew knew by now that Spy wasn't going to give them any details, so they let him be after his brief explanation, even if they were curious. The Spy stood in the corner, watching his team to make sure they didn't destroy any property. A few minutes had passed when Engie passed him by as he came out from his workshop.

"Well ya'll, I finished repairs on the teleporter. We should be able to teleport with all our limbs now," Engie says, Heavy and Sniper shivering slightly at the bad memory of teleporting only to have no legs. Suddenly, the alarm goes off; a bright red light glowing hot and flashing on and off in a sequenced pattern.

"ALERT! ALERT! A MESSAGE FROM THE ADMINISTRATOR!"

The men freeze up,worried by the announcement. "Ah piss. What did you wankers do this time?" Sniper grimaces, trying to find a guilty colleague on who he could place the blame.

"Wha- You think we did it! Nu-uh, no way!" Scout yells, not wanting to be the scapegoat for the administrator, as he has before. To be fair, most of the time it was his fault but still!

"Gentlemen, calm yourselves! We do not even know if it is a negative announcement," Spy reasons, keeping a level head as he usually does.

Medic nods, "Herr Spy is right. Let us listen to the message before we jump to conclusions." Despite his own words, Medic was already planning a gruesome surgery for der dummkopf who angered their management.

The other men try to not worry, but they all know what the administrator is capable of. Speaking of the administrator, the speaker blares to life, her voice pouring out of the equipment. "Attention men! We have noticed a stagnation on the battlefield. As such, we have found you a new teammate!"

The announcement, neither positive nor negative, still shook the group. Even Spy was a bit surprised at the words of their boss. A new teammate? They have been working together for years and the administrator just decides now to give them a new teammate?

"Gather in the meeting room in exactly one minute! "Meet Me video" will be arriving shortly."

Not ones to wait for punishment, the nine men move from their positions to get quickly into the meeting room. It was a small room with no decorations or any extra items. The only things inside were a small table, nine chairs, a projector, and a mini teleporter. Wasting no time, although none of them wanted to be here, the mercy each grabbed a chair and sat down.

Exactly a minute after the announcement, the small teleporter roared to life and a tape appeared out of thin air. Engie, making sure to put it in correctly and keep the projector working, sets the machine to play the "Meet Me Video" of their new teammate.

*3 - 2 - 1*

A cartoony intro card starts on the screen, the words reading 'Meet the Artist'. This drew laughter from Demo.

"Wha'? The boss lady thinks we're that bad we need some fancy boy wh' can teach us t' paint?"

This got a few chuckles from the mans teammates but that was silenced when a voice came from the video as well.

"Um, O-Ohayo! This is the Artist speaking, short for Martial Artist." The girl onscreen looked rather fidgety and nervous to be an assassin. Her head was pointed downwards, blue eyes nearly completely covered by long black hair. But what surprised the men the most was simply the fact that she was of the opposite gender. A female merc?! Nearly unheard of.

"Abilities? Oh, those. Okay!" The girl clears her throat. Her eyes closed momentarily, but as she looks up again, you could tell she stood straighter and with more confidence; her eyes becoming a cold. "I have mastered Judo, Ninjutsu, and Atemi Ju-Jitsu since I had started training as a young girl. My sidearm is a fukidake; a poison blowdart that I have crafted myself with a deadly neurotoxin. It can shoot to over 10 meters but even a small cut would be enough to kill you in 30 seconds. Melee weapon? I was gifted these upon arrival." The woman lifts her arms up to show black, metal brass knuckles that were held in each hand. "They have told me these are made of titanium stronger than most jets. But I will have to see for myself on the battlefield."

"Damn, sheila sure has an arsenal on 'er," Sniper whistles, curious about the firing capabilities of her blowgun.

"Yeah, yeah, she's so cool. Whateva!" Scout huffs, crossing his arms. "I could bet her with my bat, no problem. Wham!"

"Quiet fellas! I don't think the lady is done speakin'!" Engie points towards the projector again where the group watches as the girl stares straight into the camera.

"Our employers are telling me I must be off. By the time you are watching this, I just might be right behind you." The tone in her voice sent a shiver down their spines, as if she actually were in the room with them.

"Hello teammates," A silky voice says from behind the men. The nine mercenaries quickly turn, some with more dignity than others, as they gape at the woman behind them. Her mouth turns up slightly. "It is very nice to meet you."

Translations:

der Bekanntenkreis = (literal) group of friends / (in contact) my friends

Salut mon frére = hello my friend

Herr = Sir

Der dummkopf = the idiot

Ohayo = Good Morning

This is a redo of a story with the same name! I do hope you enjoyed and look forward to the incoming chapters :)

- Fiction