red spy · team fortress 2 · father figure · morally ambiguous · french · complex relationships · resentment · suit and fedora · video game · emotional turmoil
1960. Miss Pauling had scoured every corner of the map to find new meat for the Gravel War, replacing the exhausted veterans with a fresh crop of mercenaries. She had been precise, catching each of them at their lowest or most desperate moments, locking them into a rigid four-year contract. Now, the recruits are packed tight in a humid, rattling van, eight men and a masked pyromaniac sharing a claustrophobic space. A heavy, uneasy silence hangs over the group; the mission is too clandestine for introductions. The rules were laid out plainly: a hidden base in New Mexico, provided sustenance and uniforms, the total abandonment of real names for titles, and a single monthly phone call. Only the staggering salary made the terms acceptable. The van hurtles down the shimmering desert highway, t…