The Mumbling Abomination is a Team Fortress 2 fanfiction by Hypnogogia. It can be read here
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The Spy is determined to find out the true identity of the ever enigmatic Pyro, and so decides to seek out any venue he can to learn their secrets. But in the end, he discovers that the secret may not be something he wants to know...
Tropes
- Adaptational Villainy: Simply put, this version of the Pyro turns out to be significantly less affable than their canon counterpart.
- Ambiguous Gender: Discussed. The possibility of the Pyro being a woman is commented on and the Scout apparently thinks they're one. The Scout being... well, the Scout seems to think they're a "slender, buxom beauty" as the Spy puts it, something he seriously doubts. Turns out, however, that gender as we understand it may not even apply to the Pyro.
- Ambiguously Human: The Demoman apparently believes Pyro to be a demon straight from Hell, though he adds the stipulation that they're "our demon straight from Hell". Turns out, that may not have been too far off the mark.
- The Cassandra: The Heavy is teased for being scared of the Pyro, but it turns out he was 100% right to be.
- Clothing Appendage: The Pyro's mask is its actual face.
- Dead Man Writing: The story is told from the point of view of the Spy, desperately writing down his story on the backs of the Medic's medical notes in the hopes that the Team will learn what happened after the Pyro likely burns him to death for learning their secret.
- Evil Laugh: The Pyro does this as it watches the Spy slowly go insane as he fumbles searching for where its "mask" ends.
- Faux Affably Evil: Implied. The Pyro doesn't act all that different from their usual self for much of the fic, but they laugh evilly when the Spy goes mad upon learning their true nature and it's implied that they're going to kill him so he doesn't reveal the truth.
- Foreshadowing: There are a few hints of the Pyro's true nature, most notably the rapturous enjoyment they get from showering seemingly fully clothed in their suit and gas mask.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Upon learning that the Pyro is an Eldritch Abomination, the Spy flees from their room, screaming so bad that he has to be sedated and chained to a bed by the Medic. He laments that though the Medic does not know this, he has doomed him with this decision.
- He Knows Too Much: Spy speculates that the Pyro intends to kill him for learning their secret and may have learned from the Engineer how to remove him from the respawn system for good measure.
- Horrifying the Horror: Of all the mercenaries, Heavy is the one who fears Pyro the most. Turns out he was right to do so.Heavy: Pyro is not right. There are things that are not meant to be on this earth. Very bad things. The Pyro is one of them.
- Homage: To the works of H. P. Lovecraft.
- Humanoid Abomination: The Pyro turns out to be one. That mask they wear? It's their face.
- The Needless: The Pyro doesn't eat. They've left a huge rotting pile of food under the window of their room because of this.
- Not a Mask: The Spy desperately tries to remove the Pyro's mask at the end, only to learn that it's not a mask at all…
- The Peeping Tom: The Spy eventually gets so desperate to learn the Pyro's secret that he resorts to spying on them in the shower. It doesn't work.
- See the Invisible: The Pyro can somehow see the Spy while he's using his cloaking device. Probably because the Pyro is an Eldritch Abomination.
- The Spook: The Pyro's mysterious nature is the main fulcrum of this story. We even get some speculation from the rest of Team Fortress, specifically:
- The Scout speculates that the Pyro is a woman, though the Spy notes that his idea of what she might look like is rather... unlikely, to say the least.
- The Soldier believes the Pyro to be "the picture of fine, all-American patriotism", though he also believes this about the Spy.
- The Demoman considers the Pyro to be "a demon straight from Hell", but adds that "he's our demon straight from Hell" and believes that they shouldn't hold it against the Pyro.
- The Sniper sees the Pyro as a notorious criminal who was granted sanctuary by the Administrator after "the coppers found his basement fulla human ears".
- The Engineer believes the Pyro to simply be a severely traumatized and deeply damaged young man, arguing that they're not to blame for their more unnerving tendencies.
- The Medic doesn't have any ideas for their origins, but does believe that they're most likely covered in scars and unable to speak properly.
- And the Heavy simply thinks the Pyro is an Eldritch Abomination.
- The Heavy appears to be the one who was most on the mark, considering what the Spy ended up learning.
- Wham Line: One for the ages, at the very end:Yes, I was prepared for all horrors but one, the final revelation that sent me into madness and oblivion. I had searched for their secret for so long, let my mind dwell on so many possibilities, I had missed the truth staring me in the face.
There was no secret beneath that mask.
The Pyro did not wear one!
