Hello everyone! I'm glad my first fanfic has received many positive reviews. I have decided to rewrite this story, mainly because many of you have noticed plot holes. Thus, I will try to fix them the best of my abilities. To the old and new readers alike, please enjoy!

"Don't ever come back anymore! I don't even get why you want to see him so badly!" a woman's angry yell can be heard, piercing through the silent night.

'Fine, I don't even want to be here anyway,' I thought. My mother had kicked me out of the house. Again. Usually, I would just go back home hours later, and my mother would shed tears of joy and say that she needed me and never leave her anymore. Whenever I'd ask her about my father, she would always react like this. Who knew why?

But this time, I've strengthened my resolve, even if I had nowhere to go. I knew my possessions won't last me long: I only had some money, a few changes of clothes, some food, some books, my laptop, and my trusty carbine rifle. I wasn't even sure who legalized the ownership of guns in this city. It probably wasn't safe, but there hasn't been anyone who went berserk and shot at civilians so far.

Whenever I was kicked out, I would always visit the local shooting range. It was my favourite place to relax, a place of solace. A factor that made the shooting range a great place to hide out was that it opens 24/7/365. When I arrived, there were some people testing new weapons. Whenever I entered the shooting range, I would glance at the billboard out of habit. This time, a certain poster caught my eye. 'Mercenary needed. Experience with firearms required. Immediate employment is possible. Lodgings, food and salary will be given. Contact TF Industries at any time if interested.'

'Are they sure I can contact them at any time?' I wondered. It could be a hoax, but beggars can't be choosers, as the saying goes. It provided food and lodgings, just what I needed at the moment. Was today my lucky day? I borrowed the shop owner's telephone and dialed the number mentioned in the advertisement. I had no time to think about the risk it came along. In a world of survival, you either do or die.

The call was answered after three rings. "TF Industries, Mann Co., Pauling here. May I help you?" a woman's voice greeted.

"I am looking for a job, and I heard you have a place for freelance mercenaries?" I asked.

"Oh, yes, we're looking for new recruits. It is in my impression that you're interested?" the woman replied.

"I am. In this advertisement, it says that immediate employment is possible. Does that mean I can start as soon as now?" I decided to test their reliability.

"I have tracked your location. Please stay where you are for a couple of minutes, and I will meet you there. Your lodgings and other necessities will be sorted out by the time we meet. Thank you for contacting us," the woman on the other side hung up afterwards.

Since I had time to kill, staying where I was wouldn't hurt. It was interesting, a company that would hire a person in the middle of the night. I found a seat and made myself comfortable. I decided to read one of the books I brought along. I was just getting to the good part when someone touched my shoulder. I immediately grabbed for my rifle, pointing it at the person.

"You have good reflexes, and that's a good thing. I heard you're interested to join Mann Co.," a woman in purple with large glasses said. Her hair was tied in a neat bun.

"Yeah, it's me," I lowered my gun. "Sorry for my outburst earlier, I was surprised. I'm Zelda Kaufmann, nice to meet you," I held out my hand.

"I'm Pauling, and the pleasure is mine," she replied, shaking my hand. I swore her eyebrows twitched when I told her my name.

"Where is the workplace and what am working as?" I asked.

"Your workplace is in Teufort, and you will be involved in a war between two teams. Are you sure you want to join in the fray?" explained Pauling.

Teufort. I have only heard of the place, but no one actually knew where it was. Many myths and legends surrounded the place. Anyway, that wasn't important. "Does that mean I would die at any given time?" I asked.

"Yes, it is possible that you'd die, but thanks to a system called the Respawn System, you will be revived in seconds. All your injuries will be healed as well,"

"That's great. I will join Mann Co., then," A hunch surfaced in my mind. I felt like what I was looking for would be in Teufort. Besides, it would be difficult for my mother to locate me since Teufort is pretty enigmatic to the townsfolk.

"Before we go, may I test your skills in firearms, Miss Kaufmann?" Miss Pauling led me to a room full of targets. "There will be some requirements, but if you can fulfill them, you may join us,"

I loaded my rifle and took a deep breath. "Alright, Miss Pauling, I'm ready,"

I passed with flying colours, as I knew I would. I rode behind Miss Pauling on her Vespa. 'I'm finally free from this town, and I could finally start looking for my father. I have no leads, but I'm sure something will work out,' I thought. I should've done this earlier, why did I chicken out whenever I tried to run away? 'I won't go back this time,' I reminded myself.

We entered the Badlands, and arrived at Teufort moments later. We stopped at an establishment that had two buildings, one blue and the other red. Miss Pauling led me into the blue building, telling me that I've been assigned to team BLU. She then walked me to the lodging house. We discussed about Teufort on the way. She briefed me about the purpose of the two teams that existed, RED and BLU.

We arrived at the lodging house minutes later.

"This is the lodging house, Miss Kaufmann. There is a rec room, a kitchen, and nine dorms. I'm sorry I couldn't prepare a dorm for you at such short notice, so you might have to share a room with one of the members," explained Miss Pauling.

"You said that all the members are male, when we were discussing about the teams," I said, protective.

"No worries, you will be protected from any sort of harassment. I can confirm that the mercenaries are decent enough to act politely in front of a lady," reassured Miss Pauling. "Besides, you can handle them with your lightning reflexes, can't you?"

I nodded, slightly unsure.

"But if they really act out of hand, you are allowed to kill them, without the Respawn System on," she added nonchalantly. I wasn't sure if she was joking.

We walked into the rec room. The room has a bar, a television and a card table. All nine members of the team were present. A teenage boy wearing a baseball cap walked up to us. His eyes were azure, but they had a darker hue than mine. Of all the men, he seemed to be the closest to my age. "Hey, Miss Pauling, who's this girl you have with you?"

"I'll explain, Scout. She will be joining you guys, effective today," replied Miss Pauling.

"Sweet," the boy grinned.

Miss Pauling cleared her throat. "Good evening, gentlemen. May I have your attention?"

Everyone stopped whatever they were doing and looked at us. As soon as they saw me, they began to chatter amongst themselves.

"First of all, settle down, all of you," she said. "All right, as of today, she will join the BLU team. I trust that you will treat her well. If she complains about any of you, I will ensure that you will be held for proper punishment. Is that clear?"

Everyone nodded. Miss Pauling smiled. "Then, I hope all of you can work together as a team, and bring the BLU team glory." Turning to Scout, she said, "Scout, make sure she gets comfortable here, can you do that?"

The person in question nodded. "Sure can, Miss Pauling,"

"Then all is settled. I have other things to attend to, so I'll leave it to you guys," she said before leaving.

As the door closed, Scout turned his attention to me. "Miss Pauling is a very busy woman,"

"Anyways, introductions are on the way. As you know, I'm the Scout. I run the fastest, so I'm almost always the person to pick up the intelligence case," he said.

"Nice to meet you, Scout," I said. I addressed everyone. "Good evening, everyone. They call me Zelda, and I hope we can all cooperate with each other in the time to come,"

Everyone nodded in agreement. They made their preparations to state their names.

The first to approach to me was a man who wore an oversized helmet that obscured his eyes. He looked like a military man. "FOR STARTERS, I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT I DON'T AGREE WITH WOMEN BEING ON THE BATTLEFIELD. SINCE IT'S THE BOSS'S ORDERS, I'LL LET IT SLIP. BUT BE WARNED THAT IF YOU ARE A LIABILITY TO THE TEAM, I WON'T HESITATE TO HAVE YOU KICKED OUT, DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR, MAGGOT?" he growled. "I'M CALLED THE SOLDIER, BY THE WAY,"

"I understand, um… Sir," I saluted for good measure. He seemed satisfied.

A person wearing a gas mask and a fire suit mumbled incoherently. They lit up a match and appeared to be happy.

Scout jumped to the explanation. "They're the Pyro. They go crazy over anything that's related to fire, but don't worry, they won't try to set you or this building on fire,"

A man who had an eye patch over his left eye seemed drunk a few moments ago, sobered up. "I'm Tavish DeGroot. In these parts they call me the Demoman." He took a swig of his scrumpy. "I'm an expert in explosives, I'll have you know,"

"I am Heavy Weapons Guy," said a burly man with a Russian accent. "Little girl better be strong. You eat this sandvich and grow stronger," he handed me a large sandwich. It looked delicious. I should save it for later.

"Howdy, lass. I'm the Engineer. 'Round Texas, they call me Dell Conagher. I like to make things. My main purpose being here is to build things that can make the other people's jobs easier. For example, my Dispenser can heal and restock a person based on their class. Ain't that neat?" he sounded really soft spoken and likeable, almost like a father figure.

"Guten Abend, Fraulein. I am the Medic. Well, as a Medic, we heal injured members with the Medigun and we do check-ups for people that are sick after battles. Despite that, I would like it if you maintain your health for many reasons," a man wearing glasses along with salt-and-pepper hair said, with his mild German accent. His eyes were lighter than Scout's.

"G'day, mate. I'm the Sniper. Good to have you around, since the team's never won in a long time. So, I was hoping you could turn this around," a man wearing aviators patted my shoulder.

A man wearing a suit and a balaclava kissed my hand. "Bonsoir, Mademoiselle. I am known as the Spy. If you want any late night chats, you can come over to my place-"

"Okay, okay, that's enough, Spy. I don't think Zelda needs all this," interrupted Scout.

"Oh, poor little Scout. Are you jealous? I was only teasing, you see,"

"Well, that's everyone here, Zelda. We'll warm up to you soon enough," said Scout. "If you have any problems, just look for any of us, except the Spy, okay?"

"Oh, please, Scout, I never knew you were this petty," Spy shrugged.

Scout blushed furiously. "H-hey!"

The team seemed to have their own flair, and I believe there won't be any major problems working with them.

That's all for this chapter. I hope it is better than the last version. See you in the next chapter!