Not many people knew about the two bases. They were hidden in Tuefort, Arizona, deep in the desert and miles away from anyone else. Meaning anything and everything could happen, no matter how illegal. Which was great for the Red and Blue team, especially considering the fact they had gunfights almost everyday. It wasn’t really the best place to raise a teenager, but that wasn’t going to stop the Red team and make them give up Assistant. Assistant was in their early teens, 13 or 14, 5’6 in height, oh, and their real name was Carmine. Which you shouldn’t really know, but, I can’t exactly wipe your memory. 

Today was what the mercenaries call ‘Ceasefire Day’, which was just a fancy way of saying it was a day where no one would be fighting, a day off in a way. Red base was normally quiet during Ceasefire, people either in their own quarters, out in town, or training. Yet you should know by now, you wouldn’t be reading this if it was just about any normal day.

Ludwig, also known as Medic, was having a semi-normal day, considering it was the merc’s day off. The german had fixed up Scout’s broken arm. How Scout broke his arm, Medic had no idea, but it was his job to fix up his coworkers, not ask questions. Medic was currently emptying the body of a baboon of all its organs, which would be used to upgrade or blackmail his teammates. Medic’s pleasant silence was broken when the door of his medbay was yanked open and slammed shut seconds later.

Assistant pressed their back to the Medbay door, they were covered in dirt, grass stains, several scratches, and forming bruises on every piece of uncovered skin. Medic glanced up from his table, almost dropping the scalpel when he saw the state of the teenager. He didn’t even bother washing off his blood covered hands as he rushed to their side, worriedly scanning them over for any wounds bad enough for stitches.

“Vhat happened liebling?” Medic murmured, carefully picking up Assistant’s left wrist, it had several cuts, most of them weren’t too deep and the size of them let the ex-doctor know the cuts were from barbed wire. Assistant inhaled shaikly, opening their mouth to answer, but couldn’t say anything before cutting themself off with a terrified sob. They broke down, sobs racking their body as the brunet fell to their feet. The german stumbles backwards slightly, surprised at the sudden outburst.

“Liebling? Are you alright?” Ludwig crouched down next to the teenager, who was curled into a fetal position on the floor, back still pressed to the metal doors of the medbay.

“Soldier-soldier and I- we were training,” Assistant choked out through their sobs, “and I kept telling him, I was getting overworked!” Medic nodded, letting them know he wanted them to continue. “And he wouldn’t stop! So- so- We argued, and he hit me, and I then we started fighting- and- and I fell into the barbed wire- and- and- he yank- yanked me out- and the wire.” They showed their arms in an explanation, both of which were covered in cuts and scratches.

Medic was absolutely livid. Sure, Assistant and Soldier had fought before, but it had never gotten this bad, normally it would have been broken up before it could have even gotten physical. Part of Ludwig wanted to grab his bonesaw and go teach Soldier a lesson on why you shouldn’t mess with the Assistant, yet first he needed to patch up Carmine first. Speaking of Carmine, they’d stop crying and was now just looking around worriedly, as if Soldier would come out of nowhere. 

“Come, come, let me patch you up.” Medic stood up, pulling Carmine with him. They stumbled, using Medic to stabilize themself, that wasn’t a good sign, possible blood loss. Ludwig helped Assistant to a clean operating table, and rushed to get a first-aid kit. Carmine was acting a bit loopy, the adrenaline wearing off mixed the loss of blood was getting to them. The lab, or medbay as everyone called it, was fairly clean and decluttered, well, clean considering it was normally covered in blood. Archimedes, one of Medic’s many doves, flew down next to the bloody teenager, landing on their shoulder. 

“Hey Archy, what’s up?” Assistant’s voice slurred, and at the sound of it Medic grew a bit more worried. 

“Archimedes! Stop bothering her!” Ludwig snapped, shooing away the white bird. Carmine watched in silence as their mentor picked up their left wrist and began to clean it with an alcohol wipe. “I apologize for zhe burning liebling, I need to clean zhe vounds.” The younger one of the two hummed in response, the burning from the cuts blocking out the burning from the alcohol wipe. Once Medic had cleaned all the cuts he could see, he began to cover them in bandages. Assistant had tried to reach forward to help, but their hand was smacked in response with several angry german words telling them to sit still.

“Zhere, your vounds have been treated. But I vant to check you for significant blood loss.” Medic sighed, stepping to the side and searching his desk for a stethoscope. When he found it, he returned to Carmine’s side and put the stethoscope on, using it to listen to their breathing. After a minute or so, Medic removed the stethoscope and placed it on the side with the previously discarded first-aid kit. He placed his still bloody index and middle fingers, which were now covered with Assistant’s blood and not animal blood, over Assistant's carotid artery, counting the heartbeat for 15 seconds.

“I vant you to go find herr Engineer and tell him I sent you. Let him know you lost blood and need fluids and food, healthy food.” Carmine nodded at their mentor’s orders, hopping off the operation table. “Archimedes gehen mit ihnen.”

Archimedes cooed at the german command, fluttering down and landing on Assistant’s head. They didn’t know much german, only really understand some insults Medic often used, so Assistant decided against asking what their mentor said. Medic began to wash his hands, waiting for the familiar click of the medbay door closing. 

Carmine exited the medbay with Archimedes. They looked around for a moment, checking for any sign of Soldier, when they didn’t hear, nor see anything out of the ordinary, Assistant began to head to Engineer’s office, also known as the “Thinking Room”. When Assistant and Archimedes reached the room, the teenager knocked three times, waiting for the familiar southern accent of Engineer to allow their entrance. 

The metal, almost vault-like door was pulled open. Engineer gave the teenager a look of surprise, most likely because he wasn’t expecting them to be covered in bandages. He let out a small huff, placing the blueprint he was working on down.

“What happened now?” Engineer huffed, turning to fully face Assistant.

“Soldier and I got into a fight over training and he knocked me into some barbed wire. Medic sent me to tell you I lost a good bit of blood and need substinese.” Carmine smiled sheepishly, rubbing their neck and looking at the ground as if they had done something wrong.

“Christ kid, well, c’mon, let’s get you some food.” Engineer pushed past them and began heading to the kitchen, closely followed by Carmine. 

Medic drug Soldier by the collar of his shirt, which was covered in dirt and some of Assistant’s blood. Soldier had stopped strugglingly against the ex-doctor when a syringe filled with god knows what was pressed to his neck. 

“I am bring you to zhe kitchen, vhen ve get zhere, you vill apologize to Assistant and let zhem off for training until zheir vounds are healed.” Medic snarled, sending a sharp glare to his coworker. Soldier tensed at the tone and hurriedly nodded, not wishing to be sedated and/or killed. When they entered the kitchen they saw Assistant sitting at the table eating a sandwich, next to Engineer who was talking about his newest invention. Soldier scrambled to his feet, and Medic cleared his throat to gain the attention of the two sitting at the table.

“Oh, hey Medic! Hi Soldier.” Assistant waved the hand with the least bandages on it, and Soldier winced at the sight of them. He knew they were in bad shape but Soldier hadn’t expected them to look this bad. Engineer took notice of the tension in the room and snuck away.

“Listen Magg-” Soldier was cut off as Medic slapped the back of his head, glaring daggers at the helmeted man. Soldier cleared his throat and stood up straighter. “I am sorry for overworking you Assistant.”

Assistant shrugged, “It happens.” and resumed eating their food. Soldier glanced at Medic, waiting for any sign of anger, when he saw nothing change, the normally stern man backed away slowly before taking off in the opposite direction.

“How do you feel? Zhe vounds I mean.” Ludwig sat down next to Assistant, who cast a glimpse at their mentor, before focusing back on their food. 

Carmine shrugged, finishing chewing on the bite before answering, “Fine I guess, cuts don’t hurt as much.”

“Do you truthfully forgive herr Soldier?”

“Nope. I put laxatives in his protein shake.” Assistant was surprisingly nonchalant, and didn’t even show a sign of emotion when they answered.

“Oh mein Gott! You didn’t!” Medic guffawed, smiling from ear to ear. 

Assistant nodded with a smirk that let Medic know they didn’t feel any bit guilty. “What can I say? Karma’s a B.”