History FanFic / EightMercenariesAndAToddler

HilarityEnsues when the [[BackFromTheDead Respawn]] system malfunctions on Scout's twenty-first birthday, turning him into a very young kid and giving the other team members a crash course in childcare. They have two days to figure out what went wrong with the system while taking care of a very energetic, enthusiastic child with varying levels of reluctance/competence, because once the weekend is over, it'll be business as usual as far as the Administrator and the [=BLUs=] are concerned.

''I'll Be Home For the Holidays'' is set a few months later, when the Administrator agrees to have both BLU and RED teams take a [[ChristmasEpisode Christmas]] break, and mainly features VitriolicBestBuds RED Sniper and Spy spending Christmas at the Sniper's parents, upon which [[HilarityEnsues wacky hijinks]], [[TearJerker low]] [[PerfectlyCromulentWord jinks]], drama and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking giant robots]] ensue. Longer and somewhat DarkerAndEdgier than EMAT.

* LaResistance: Part of [[spoiler: Spy's]] backstory, and the reason [[spoiler:he was sent to a concentration camp during WW2 - rather than his being Jewish]]. The irony is not lost on him.

* ScrubbingOffTheTrauma: [[spoiler:Spy]], a few hours after [[spoiler:Sniper]] is shot in front of him: "''It wasn't coming off. It wasn't coming off, and it was going to stain, just like [[spoiler:Lawrence]]'s blood had, because that hadn't come off either, but he had gone hours and hours and hours before he had realized that [[spoiler:Lawrence]]'s blood was still on his hands, and it had stained his skin so deeply that no matter how hard he scrubbed and lathered it wouldn't come off—it wasn't coming off, it wasn't coming off and there was nothing he could do—''"

* OutDamnedSpot: [[spoiler:Spy]], a few hours after [[spoiler:Sniper]] is shot in front of him: "''It wasn't coming off. It wasn't coming off, and it was going to stain, just like [[spoiler:Lawrence]]'s blood had, because that hadn't come off either, but he had gone hours and hours and hours before he had realized that [[spoiler:Lawrence]]'s blood was still on his hands, and it had stained his skin so deeply that no matter how hard he scrubbed and lathered it wouldn't come off—it wasn't coming off, it wasn't coming off and there was nothing he could do—''"

* AllMenArePerverts: When Demoman babysits toddler-Scout and goes into Scout's room, the walls are covered in pictures torn from Playboy centerfolds and the bookshelf has several dirty magazines.

** Taken [[UpToEleven to eleven]] in chapter 3, in which [[spoiler:almost the entire BLU team is gruesomely wiped out by the Gray robots]].

* AdultFear: Lizzie Mundy is pregnant and terrified that she'll be a bad mother. Not helped by the fact that [[spoiler:she and her husband Jack don't love each other anymore and she's scared about what will happen to the baby]].

* LandDownunder: Featuring struggles for racial equality, [[EverythingTryingToKillYou colourful wildlife]], and most people [[RuleOfFunny including women and girls]] sporting [[BadassMustache Badass Moustaches]].

''I'll Be Home For the Holidays'' is set a few months later, when the Administrator agrees to have both BLU and RED teams take a [[ChristmasEpisode Christmas]] break, and mainly features VitriolicBestBuds RED Sniper and Spy spending Christmas at the Sniper's parents, upon which [[HilarityEnsues wacky hijinks]], [[TearJerker low]] [[PerfectlyCromulentWord jinks]], [[RealityEnsues drama]] and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking giant robots]] ensue. Longer and somewhat DarkerAndEdgier than EMAT.

''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8302553/1/Eight-Mercenaries-and-A-Toddler Eight Mercenaries and a Toddler]]'' and its sequels ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8605925/1/I-ll-Be-Home-for-the-Holidays I'll Be Home for the Holidays]]'' and ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9894404/1/Machines-Don-t-Bleed Machines Don't Bleed]]'' are three fanfictions (two completed and one ongoing) of ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' by [[http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1744920/ChaosandMayhem ChaosandMayhem]].

* InfantImmortality: Type 2 is averted when [[spoiler:Kida is killed]].

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler:A double subversion. Little!Scout is killed by a BLU mini-sentry, only to respawn as adult!Scout. However, the trope is averted with Spy's younger brothers.]]

-->''No one had seen him here, no one knew that he knew where Giancarlo was going. No one expected him to come to the rescue of his former protégé and his protégé’s Australian. His team was waiting for him to join them. Edwin was waiting.''\\

!!''Eight Mercenaries and a Toddler'' and its sequels include examples of:

* AppliedPhlebotinum: Both Australium (the dwindling reserves make it a highly-coveted McGuffin) and the few vials of Medigun formula the REDs managed to save from the attack on their base.

''Machines Don't Bleed'' is DarkerAndEdgier ''and'' DenserAndWackier, as the RED team and their allies barely escape getting killed by Gray Mann's robots (unlike the [=BLUs=], who are murdered almost to a man) and uncover a plot of Gray Mann's that may bring about a nuclear winter. A sprawling 240k words epic that gets ''very'' dark but in which the [[AnyoneCanDie surviving]] characters [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn their happy endings]].

* DarkAndTroubledPast: The author develops backstories for Scout, Spy and Medic.
* DisappearedDad: [[spoiler:Scout's father as well as Spy's.]]

* LaResistance: Part of [[spoiler: Spy's]] backstory.
* LastStand

* MenCantKeepHouse: Subverted on two counts. When Demoman has his turn babysitting Scout, he's surprised to find out that Scout's room is neat and clean (albeit filled with baseball posters and [[AllMenArePerverts Playboy magazine pages]]). The team's refrigerator also has the groceries labeled and organized by food group. Lampshaded by the narration: "For a bunch of guys, they kept the fridge surprisingly clean."
* MoodWhiplash

* PetTheDog

* VitriolicBestBuds

* AdultFear
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Sniper.

* ArtificialLimbs:

* ButtMonkey: Blake Porter.

* ChristmasEpisode: The whole story, especially chapter 23.

* DeathbedConfession

* EurekaMoment

* {{Forgiveness}}: A major theme.

* HeroicBSOD

* HeelFaceTurn

* InsistentTerminology

* ItHasBeenAnHonor
* {{Jerkass}}: Jack, Lizzie's husband who is distant to her yet at the same time quite possessive of her and called Christian with racial remarks.

* LaserGuidedKarma

* [[TheManBehindTheMan The Mann Behind The Man]]
* MechaMooks

* OutDamnedSpot
* PetTheDog: Delmond may be a sellout and a traitor but [[spoiler: he does care about Blake enough to save the lad’s life after being shot, and secures him a job as the new BLU Engineer after the collapse of GI.]]

* RefugeInAudacity
* RightBehindMe

* ShoutOut

* SoProudOfYou
* SurvivorGuilt: Spy.

* VillainousBreakdown

* WellDoneSonGuy

* YouHaveFailedMe: [[spoiler: Averted. Gray Mann is actually impressed with Blake.]]
* YouShouldHaveDiedInstead: A variation when Lizzie tells Spy that [[spoiler:he should have been shot instead of Sniper.]]

* EverybodySDeadDave: [[spoiler:Almost the whole BLU team is killed]] in chapter 3 in a CurbStompBattle.

''Machines Don't Bleed'' is DarkerAndEdgier ''and'' DenserAndWackier, as the RED team and their allies barely escape getting killed by Gray Mann's robots (unlike the [=BLUs=], who are murdered almost to a man) and uncover a plot of Gray Mann's that may bring about a nuclear winter. There are a couple of chapters and an epilogue to go before the end.

* AppliedPhlebotinum: Australium. Regularly injecting undistilled doses directly into your bloodstream temporarily boosts your brain power but also increases your aggression. It can heal your wounds and prolong your life span, but not without cost (like strong dependency).

* HeroicBSOD: Happens to Spy in EMAT when [[spoiler:little Scout is killed by a sentry]] and in MDB when [[Blake shoots Sniper, revealing he'd been working for Gray Mann all along]].

* NiceGuy

* HeSBack: It takes a possibly imaginary conversation with the ghost of [[spoiler:Medic]], but Spy, in chapter 30, after leaving the team in a major BSOD.

* Friends All Along: Sniper and Christian do this at Spy's expense.

* {{Jerkass}}

* NotSoStoic

* RoaringRampageOfRescue

* BadassBoast: Soldier gives a pretty sweet one after [[spoiler: the [=BLUs=] have kidnapped the babified RED Scout]]. Subverted in that, after the MomentOfAwesome has passed, someone remarks that he was [[ManlyTears crying]].

* ShoutOut: A lot of the chapters' titles; there's references to ''SlaughterhouseFive'', Music/BillyJoel, ''Film/CrocodileDundee'', and trope names.

* TheMasquerade: The RED team has to do a bit of obfuscation to convince the Administrator to give them a day's extension to the traditional weekend ceasefire, because clearly Scout can't fight and they don't know if Respawn will work on him. [[spoiler: She's GenreSavvy enough to guess there's something shifty about it and quickly sees through their subterfuge.]]

''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8302553/1/Eight-Mercenaries-and-A-Toddler Eight Mercenaries and a Toddler]]'' and its sequels ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8605925/1/I-ll-Be-Home-for-the-Holidays I'll Be Home for the Holidays]]'' and ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9894404/1/Machines-Don-t-Bleed Machines Don't Bleed]]'' are three completed fanfictions of ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' by [[http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1744920/ChaosandMayhem ChaosandMayhem]].

''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8302553/1/Eight-Mercenaries-and-A-Toddler Eight Mercenaries and a Toddler]]'' and its sequel ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8605925/1/I-ll-Be-Home-for-the-Holidays I'll Be Home for the Holidays]]'' are two completed fanfictions of ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' by [[http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1744920/ChaosandMayhem ChaosandMayhem]].

The sequel is set a few months later, when the Administrator agrees to have both BLU and RED teams take a [[ChristmasEpisode Christmas]] break, and mainly features VitriolicBestBuds RED Sniper and Spy spending Christmas at the Sniper's parents, upon which [[HilarityEnsues wacky hijinks]], [[TearJerker low]] [[PerfectlyCromulentWord jinks]], [[RealityEnsues drama]] and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking giant robots]] ensue. Longer and somewhat DarkerAndEdgier than EMAT.

The third entry ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9894404/1/Machines-Don-t-Bleed Machines Don't Bleed]]'' is now out, with new chapters slowly but steadily being added.

!!''Eight Mercenaries and a Toddler'' includes examples of:

* ContinuityNod: Lots, both to the games and comics.

* DespairEventHorizon

* FeedByExample
* {{Flashback}}
* [[spoiler: FluffyCloudHeaven]]: Averted. [[spoiler: Scout sees "limbo" as a baseball stadium]].

* MoralityPet

* ShoutOut: A lot of the chapters' titles; there's notably a reference to ''SlaughterhouseFive''.

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[[WMG:I'll Be Home for the Holidays]]

* ArtificialLimbs

* BigBrotherInstinct

* ChristmasEpisode

* ConverseWithTheUnconscious: Chapter 23.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive
* CrazyJealousGuy
* [[spoiler:{{Cyborg}}]]
* DarkerAndEdgier: EMAT was mostly light with a few TearJerker moments. HFH has multiple plotlines (including one all in flashbacks), deals with issues like racism in the 1960s, SurvivorGuilt, family estrangement and a married couple falling out of love.

* EmpathicEnvironment: Chapter 17 has DramaticThunder, followed by a BattleInTheRain of sorts during [[spoiler:Sniper's struggles against the crocodile]].

* FirstNameBasis
* {{Foreshadowing}}

* FromBadToWorse: The whole of Chapter 17. Especially from the bit from Spy's [[spoiler:DramaticUnmask]] to the [[spoiler:crocodile attack]].

* JerkassHasAPoint: While Jack's intentions weren't pure, one cannot really blame him for [[spoiler: telling everyone when he finds the cache of weapons in Sniper's van]].

* LoveTriangle
* TheManBehindTheMan

* MistakenForGay

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: From Chapter 19:

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[[WMG:Machines Don't Bleed]]
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Radigan Conagher did this in the backstory to escape the effect Australium was having on his brain.]]

* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome: Delmond, the original BLU Engineer shoots himself in the head.

* VaguenessIsComing: Sniper noting that a storm is coming.