#the spy is my oc Jules btw

[paninicupcakke]

Runway Traitor’s💣🔪

(Bomb voyage one shot + Engie & miss Pauling mentioned)

(Traitor! AU)

(CW: alcohol abuse / drunk driving)

Location: Applejack / abandoned storage building

📻🍷

Demoman bolted up the rickety stairs into the abandoned building’s attic. Hoping to find some temporary cover and more ammo. Instead, he found the enemy team’s Spy slacking off. He was sat on the floor with his back up against the wall. A small plug in fan, a portable radio and a stolen bottle of wine all sat on the floor beside him. Spy flinched at the sudden intruder, nearly spilling his glass of wine. Demoman froze in his tracks, looking utterly confused while aiming the iron bomber’s sight at him. He slowly gazed down at the open wine bottle on the floor. Spy rose an eyebrow, noticing his enemy’s hesitation.

“Don��t shoot. I’ll share with you.” Spy bargained. He cautiously set down his glass onto the floor then picked up the bottle of wine. Raising it upwards towards the Demoman as a peace offering. The rookie Demoman lowered his gun, genuinely intrigued by the man’s offer.

🕰️

An hour had passed and both men were now sat side by side on the hard wood floor together. Drunkenly mingling away as the current round continued on outside. Doing their best to ignore the gunshots and explosions in the distance.

“Everyone except Pyro’s been treatin’ me like I got the bloody plague. I don’t know what the hell their problem is.” Demo vented in a frustrated tone. Immediately taking a swig of wine right after. Spy frowned at his confession.

“My team despises me as well.” Spy drunkenly admitted. Gently resting his head onto Demoman’s shoulder. Taking a final sip of wine leftover from his glass.

“Huh? Really?” Demo asked in disbelief.

“Yes…supposedly, I haven’t been acting like myself. They all think I’ve changed ever since I got my body back.” Spy confessed, anxiously rubbing the back of his scarred neck. Demoman tilted his head as he listened.

“Well…do ya feel any different? I can’t imagine you’d be the exact same after somethin’ like that.” Demo curiously asked, setting down the nearly empty wine bottle back onto the floor.

“I feel better than ever…but they all find me repulsive now. I can’t seem to trust them the same anymore.” Spy honestly explained. Slowly meeting up with the enemy’s matching sad gaze. Demoman let out a defeated sigh.

“I know how that feels. Sometimes…it feels like ya can’t trust anyone. Not even the people you’re gettin’ paid to trust.” Demo replied with a sad shrug. Spy sighed and nodded in agreement. Both men sat there a few silent moments, listening to the faint instrumental jazz music spewing from Spy’s portable radio.

“Let’s finish this bottle, shall we?” Spy flirtatiously proposed. Grabbing the open bottle of wine nearby and taking the last swig into his mouth. He then immediately grabbed the back of Demoman’s neck, crashing their lips together. Messily transferring the sweet wine into his enemy’s mouth. Demoman’s face lit up as their lips met. He eagerly kissed and swallowed the last bit of sweet wine from Spy’s mouth. A few burgundy droplets trickled down both of their chins. Both men eagerly began kissing each other in a passionate frenzy. Spy let out an impatient groan. Demoman kept their lips locked while simultaneously turning up the volume dial to the radio. Hoping to drown out their crude noises. Spy parted ways suddenly, wiping off some of the wine from his chin with his hand.

“Wait…let’s get the hell out of this barn first.” Spy spontaneously proposed. Demoman paused and tilted his head curiously.

“Where ya wanna go?” Demo asked.

“Anywhere but here.” Spy grumbled, folding his arms. Demoman sat there a few silent moments. Conjuring up an impulsive and spontaneous plan to escape with his new found friend.

“Hmm…I got an idea.” Demo piped up. Spy rose an eyebrow.

“Well? Let’s hear it.” Spy replied with a devious smirk.

🕰️

Another half hour of company time had passed. Engineer suddenly yelped in disbelief from his current sentry camp. Witnessing his stolen red truck currently doing donuts in a field off in the distance. He squinted his eyes to find his teammate Demoman and the enemy Spy occupying his vehicle. The Texan abandoned his sentry camp momentarily to run up closer towards his truck. Hearing them both drunkenly yell and cheer as he approached them closer. Before he could draw out his pistol, Demoman slammed on the gas pedal and sped off. Driving through a wooden fence and off to the nearest road he could find. Engineer was left looking utterly baffled and upset. He angrily shoved his hand into his back pocket to whip out his cellphone.

🕰️

After about 15 minutes of driving down the dirt road, Demoman suddenly flinched hearing his work phone start ringing. The Scotsman let out an annoyed groan listening to the dreaded sound.

“Here, I’ll get it for you.” Spy offered, gliding a hand over the man’s thigh.

“Thanks man.” Demo replied with a drunken grin. Spy grabbed the man’s phone from his front pocket, hitting the answer button and holding it up to Demoman’s mouth. Before he could greet her, Miss Pauling immediately began yelling through the speaker.

“DEMOMAN! Where the hell are you!? Engineer just told me that you stole his truck and fled off with the enemy?!” Miss Pauling frantically shouted through the portable phone’s speaker.

“Aye! I’m just borrowin’ it for a wee bit.” Demoman bluntly replied. Miss Pauling let out an agitated groan.

“Listen to me carefully. Turn around, kill that Spy and get back to that farm! You need to help your team get that briefcase!” Miss Pauling angrily instructed. Spy was left silently pouting. Demoman furrowed his eyebrows.

“They’ll manage! I’m takin’ the day off.” Demo firmly declared.

“You have to schedule those off in advance Demo! That’s not how this works. You can’t just leave when you want to?!” Miss Pauling sternly lectured. Both men rolled their eyes in unison at those last few confining words. Demoman grumbled and pressed down on the brake pedal carefully. Slowing down his speed and inevitably coming to a stop on the side of the road. Demoman swiftly took his cellphone from Spy’s hand. Getting out of the driver’s seat momentarily to place the phone near one of the front tires.

“Hello?!…Are you there?! Listen to me! You’re going to get written up for this! Just get back to the farm-“ Miss Pauling shouted before completely cutting off. Demoman drove the truck’s front tire over the device, crushing it into several pieces. Running over the phone a few more times before speeding off down the road. Spy snickered hearing the device crumple underneath the truck’s weight.

“Once we find a gas station, let’s ditch the truck.” Spy suggested.

“Aye, they probably got a tracker on this damn thing too.” Demo agreed while quickly glancing around inside of the truck. Spy let out a disappointed groan after opening up the Engineer’s glovebox. Finding a pistol, a lone cigar and various paperwork. Nonetheless, Spy took the cigar and eagerly put it between his lips. Taking out his metal lighter from his pocket and sparking the tip of it. Propping both legs up on the dashboard and comfortably lounging in the passenger’s seat.

[whoredmode]

Okay, now for all my AtoA questions:

1.) Is Jane Valderama still reporting on all the craziness?

2.) Does Prof. Genki's S.E.R.C. exist in your rewrite and has it expanded to stilwater?

3.) I love the concept for the new main antagonists!! Being behind forgive and forget is such a cool backstory and makes so much sense. How do you pronounce their name though lmao?

4.) I would also love to know more about Ranja. How big of a role do they play in AtoA?

5.) Your version of Troy seems way more fleshed out and more true to his SR version. How does he differ from the bald police chief version in SR2? Like does he still do all that?

6.) When Killbane returned to the states in his tag team with Angel, did Angel know Killbane was using?

7.) Speaking of the wrestling in SR, is it similar to how wrestling works in real life do you think? Like in real life, the match results are predetermined and it's just 2 athletes putting on a fight meant to tell a story and entertain with real life feuds bleeding in occasionally. Do you think it functions like that in SR or do you think it's more of a fight between two warriors and the better fighter wins. Kinda closer to MMA but with the showiness of wrestling and lucha libre.

8.) I saved the best (Dex) question for last! When Dex was with the syndicate and feeling like he'd never get out (especially after Loren dies), do you think some part of him felt like he deserved it. Almost like his own personal purgatory as a result of the choices he made

I hope this isn't too many questions 😅😅. I can't wait to hear your thoughts!!

omg some excellent questions. gonna have to answer them under a readmore because this is gonna be looooong but i’m sure you understand that haha

yes of course! jane never stops. especially with some juicy stories that have been developing for literal years i mean come on

2. so Yes it still exists. it’s just a game show and doesn’t play a huge role in anything. it hasn’t expanded to stilwater and remains in steelport. genki is just the mascot character, but i like to think there’s some expansion on the show's brand itself; there’s actually an in-game ad in srtt that implies the existence of a genki amusement park, so i like to think that exists somewhere within steelport. always pictured an indoor amusement park, just because the game show is so enclosed. 

3. i’m not sure which names/words in particular you want a pronunciation of, so i’ll do a few:

Z: it’s just the letter Z

Philosotology/Philosotologists: Fih-loss-oh-tahl-low-jee/Fih-loss-oh-tahl-low-jist (you can find NPC dialogue in the first two games of this being pronounced btw)

Ranja: she responds to either “Rahn-ha” or “Rahn-jah”

Torque: like the word “torque,” pronounced “Tork”

if there’s any i’m missing feel free to lemme know

4. OKAY SO. i’m gonna start with backstory stuff bc it appears in the rewrite through flashbacks (flashbacks are a major part of the storytelling in AtoA). ranja was part of the vice kings back in the 1970s. she was a major figure during that fight throughout the 70s, right alongside ben and julius, though as time moved on and after everything that happened, they often write her out of it on purpose. but she was particularly adept at gathering intel and spying. she grows frustrated with the VK, feeling stifled by the way ben and jules run things, and their refusal to allow angela, ben’s sister, to play a larger role despite her skills. ranja, who had feelings for angela, had tried forever to get her to leave stilwater, but angela declined each time. eventually ranja gets the idea to  start running her own operations, eventually getting in contact with the samedi. she starts doing work for them—scoping areas outside stilwater (and some within), running some drugs, brokering deals with the help of the VK’s lawyer, harlan delmonaco (one of my non-boss OCs). with a bunch of new money, she asks angela a final time if she’ll leave stilwater with her, revealing what she’d been doing. angela is heartbroken that ranja would lie to her and the VK; this later culminates in an argument between ranja, angela, ben and jules, which ends with angela’s death at the hands of the carnales. ranja leaves stilwater after this, leaving to work with the samedi full-time. ben and jules blame ranja for angela’s death, while ranja blames them (but lbr, they really blame themselves). fast forward to sr2. with the hole left by the saints dissolution, ranja—now doing her own thing but still highly respected within the samedi—is able to get them a strong foothold within the city. fast forward now to AtoA, she’s coming in to take stilwater herself, since clearly no one else can be trusted with the city angela loved so dearly. she runs her own gang, the emperors (because kings only rule a kingdom; she rules an empire). 

5. oh my god troy. my beloved. he does…..a lot of shit. such a major player in my canon. i'm gonna link my timeline for the five years between the first two games here bc it's semi-related enough to this question. so he was still the police chief throughout sr2, but he’s on the side of the saints. he goes out with anteros in disguise whenever he calls. they take out operations and strongholds together. troy acts as a trainer for anteros during this time as well, because anteros is still working on getting his strength back post-coma. by the time srtt happens, though, he quits as the chief of police and instead becomes a private investigator. this 1) gives him freedom to do what he wants and allows him more mobility to help the saints when needed and 2) still gives him credibility. so he helps them directly all through srtt, “rejoining” them. he’s still there in AtoA, but by the end of that he leaves to focus on the private eye thing. he’s still in constant contact with the saints and helps whenever they call. also because i don’t think anteros can go a day without talking to troy. my characterization of him is worth its own several posts tbh (actually, i have some already)

6. i don’t think angel initially realized it, but as their fame grew it became pretty apparent. i actually think when angel confronted him about it, it made killbane so paranoid and nervous that it’s what made him demand a fight against angel. he’d convinced himself that angel asking him if he was on steroids meant that angel was coming for his glory, so he took it as his chance to humiliate him and get him out of his life. angel was just genuinely concerned for him though. 

7. so this is really interesting because in my canon, there’s two murderbrawls. the first one is the public one, which is like your typical theatrical wrestling and lucha libre. but the other murderbrawl is an actual death match. real fighting, real death, no rules, weapons allowed. completely underground. 

8. well…sorta kinda. i think if there’s any character i’d describe in my canon as driven by guilt/feeling like he deserves punishment or purgatory, it’s troy. that said, i do think dex feels that way in that situation to an extent. he feels like it’s partially his fault because he chose to side with the syndicate, not because he didn’t go back to the saints. this leads into his confrontation with anteros at the end of the srtt rewrite, with them meeting one-on-one and dex telling himself he was gonna end this (even though things end much differently). dex did not want to be a gangster. he did what he had to do back then, but he never saw the saints as a permanent place for himself. for one, he wasn’t treated very well as a lieutenant in the first place, but then all the lies come out about troy and julius, johnny’s imprisoned, and worst of all….anteros died. it’s not the ending he wanted, but it’s what he got and he just had to move forward regardless. i think dex got his degree in city planning, and that’s what he always wanted to do. he wanted to help develop stilwater into something beautiful. all he’s ever wanted, from the very beginning, was to protect his home. things just kept escalating out of his control. i wouldn’t describe his guilt during srtt on something as grand a scale as purgatory, but he feels angry at himself for letting it get this far. for not planning better. admittedly by this point he’s much more paranoid than he’s ever been, so at times his planning can be a bit…scattered, but he’s still good about ultimately keeping a level head. by the time AtoA is going on and he's "rejoined" them, i think any guilt he feels is less focused on the saints as a whole and more focused on anteros himself. it's hard being someone who tries to account for every possibility; how was he supposed to plan for a dead man coming back?

OKAY i think that's everything. a linked a million things here because i love to cite myself and i've just. written a lot. thank you so much for these this was so fun to answer!