Summary: When the RED teams engineer starts lagging in his job the bored enemy Spy decides to investigate the reasons behind it and maybe help solve the Texan's problems.

The sun beat down on Tuefort base as the daily routine unfolded as it had for ages. Both teams rose from their bed and performed their morning routines; the Red soldier made his bed with careful precision, the Blu scout batted another alarm clock into smithereens, Red Medic having awakened hours before was making a sandwich for later in the day, the Blu Engineer made last minute tweaks to his sentry, Red Sniper sat down with his first cup of coffee of the day, and the Blu Spy ironed the creases in his suit pants. At promptly at nine in the morning the two teams set about the business of killing each other.

It was a normal day by many accounts, bullets were flying, insults were hurled and blood was being spilled in seemingly endless quantities. RED was, as usual putting up a good fight, and the BLU Spy found himself having to be very careful if he didn't want to be riddled with bullet holes. He had managed to get through their lines and past their defenses, switching disguises often as needed to keep anyone off his scent and had managed to make his way into the RED base. It had not been very hard to fool men in the heat of battle with bullets and rockets blowing up around their ears. It was almost too easy to get his knife in someone's back and make his escape before anyone was any wiser to his presence. The stabbed would come out of Respawn mad and yelling and on the alert but he would be nowhere nearby when they returned to tell the others.

Creeping deeper in the base, he could hear the clamor and shouts of the conflict raging outside less and less. That didn't matter to him at the moment, he had his own battles to fight. A battle that usually involved more finesse and less explosions. Invisibly and silently he slunk through the corridors downwards towards the office, keeping an ear out for the sound of footsteps or machinery. The Frenchman had often thought himself clear of all trouble and would be just outside the intelligence office only to find himself on the wrong end of a sentry gun or wrench. Fooling men surrounded at all times by flying shrapnel and chaos was easy, fooling a man who seemed to do nothing but lie in wait and watch and plot...That was another challenge entirely.

Quickly switching on his disguise kit, Pyro for this occasion - a figure the American seemed to trust more than the others - he walked down the hall to the Office, trying to mimic the strange bobbing gait the of the RED teams masked maniac. Making his way around the corner he heard the faint beep of a sentry gun from behind the office door. He opened the door with all the fearless self assurance of a man who was exactly where he was supposed to be; half expecting to get shot at. Surprisingly, there was no shotgun to greet him, not even an acknowledgement of his entrance...He was almost insulted. From his experience he often found the RED engineer to be overly jumpy and paranoid and would shoot anyone, friend or foe. But not today. Even the Sentry chirped calmly at him, ignoring him in his disguise.

"Dammit"

Glancing over, he found the Engineer next to a half built dispenser, fumbling with a bolt or something. The man's back was to the door - this was strangely out of character but, he didn't see a reason to look a gift horse in the mouth. He snuck behind the man who seemed too absorbed to notice. One quick flick of his knife took care of the Engineer and a hasty dive to the floor out of the gun's immediate sight allowed him enough time to get a Sapper attached. The alarm sounded as soon as he picked up the briefcase from the desk and he chuckled strolling out the door. With all the commotion outside to keep the REDS occupied he didn't expect too much company. The cowboy would be delayed a bit before he came out of Respawn, that would allow him enough time to out of here with little fuss. As he shut the door behind him he heard the satisfying sound of the sentry exploding. He smiled and strolled down the hall with his prize.

After a brief break for lunch and another journey into the fray the Spy found himself once again in the RED base. He again found the engineer at a disadvantage and more short work was made of his toys. He could hardly believe his luck, he fully planned to enjoy it while it lasted.

His luck, however, lasted for quite some time. The next day found the RED Engineer just as bumbling and his toys as quick to fail as the day before. By the third day, the RED's Pyro had taken to hanging around the Texan's creations. This complicated things a bit as he found himself scorched more often than he liked to admit. But soon the gas masked monster got bored and didn't stay around too much.

This went on...for a week. For two weeks. For three. The RED Engineer fumbled and floundered through his work like a man sleep walking and the Spy easily demolished and beat him at every turn. While the Frenchman's employers were supposedly impressed and happy with his seemingly improved performance he was not.

There was little satisfaction or joy to be had in defeating the Engineer anymore, it was getting rather pathetic. It was embarrassing how easily the Spy could work his way around the Engineer's defenses. It was getting monotonous.

The Sniper on his team once made a comment on how his marksmanship was actually atrophying at the lack of challenge that shooting people provided compared to his hunting days. At the time he hadn't really understood what the bushman meant, but he was beginning to. Much more of this and he was going to start wearing tap shoes just to give the American a sporting chance.

For a short time he took to bothering the Sniper in search of a more challenging sport, but that proved to be a dangerous mistake. Between the bushman's readiness to throw a jar of urine at anyone friend or foe, and BLU's own Sniper shooting at any moving thing that could possibly be RED's Sniper, he decided to let the imbeciles alone to shoot at each other.

Desperation finally led him to turn his attention back to the Engineer, he began to spend more time watching and observing the man before dispatching him and his machines. Before he had been annoyed and disappointed by the man's incompetence; now he was curious, if only for lack of anything else to do about this situation

That evening he mused he problem over in his mind as his own team ate their dinner. He tuned out the cajoling and loud exclamations from his seat at the end of the table, away from the rest of the team. Something needed to be done about the enemy Engineer, before he snapped from sheer boredom. But what could he do about the problem? The Engineer was clearly not at his best. The man looked tired, his face drawn and most of the energy or spark that had driven the man seemed dim. But if his contract was anything like BLU's, he was going to be here for quite a long time no matter the condition he was in... Unless the builder were to die permanently, but that idea didn't really appeal to him. Killing a man in the heat of a fight was alright, killing for orders was fine. But killing a defenseless man like a sick dog, that turned his stomach.

The man was having problems - but what they were or why the man's own team hadn't handled them when whatever plagued him started to interfere with his work, these were mysteries. Mysteries, he quickly decided, that were not going to remain unsolved.

After a bit of thought, it seemed there was only one real solution to this problem. It was simple and straight forward : solve the Texan's problems, and he would solve his own. Something was affecting the Engineer, distracting him, troubling him. If this distraction were to be handled, the man just might return to his full attention to his job and provide a challenge again.

He smiled to himself; figuring out and solving the Engineer's problems might even prove to be entertaining.