The doors busted open, revealing the rest of your team.

"DOKTOR!" Heavy announced himself, looking quite frantic. "DID LEETLE GIRL VAKE UP YET?"

"A-yo, calm down Heavy. Her eyes are open. 'Sides, What else would the Doc run all da way here for if she didn't?" Scout cut him off, looking slightly annoyed.

"Because she might 'ave been in trouble during 'er recovery?" Spy waved his hand at Scout, and in return, Scout rolled his eyes. You could hear faint and quick steps heading your way.

"Yeah, sure, whatever, but look at her now! Doc is really somethin'-"

"I'm here!" You heard a woman's voice. You looked up to see Miss Pauling hurriedly rush over to you and Medic.

"Good to see jou Miss Pauling. Is zhe Administrator avhere of vhat happened?" Medic greeted her cordially.

"Yes. We just got done with a meeting. In short, your boss is not happy."

"What do I do about that?" You cut in, concerned. Miss Pauling shook her head, tapping her foot and looking at her chart.

"Nothing, really. Your boss declared that the last battle doesn't count towards anything and all of the supplies you lost will be replaced." She shrugged and flipped the page, continuing to scan the clipboard.

"Whatcha looking at?" You decided to pry. She took a glance up at you.

"The results from your battle. All things considered... it wasn't terrible."

"Oh. What do they say?" She shook her head.

"It's classified, but I came to check on you. Now that I see you're in good hands..." She took a weary glance at Medic, "I needed to ask a question."

"Go ahead." She tucked the clipboard under her arm, giving you her full attention. She pressed her hands together.

"Your uniform. How did it perform?"

"Do you want my honest opinion?"

"It is especially important right now that you are."

"The necklace-bag thing sucks. The BLU Heavy choked me with it and it's a drawstring, so it's hard to open while you're running. I don't really need the kneepads and extra bullets, either. I don't wear them as well as Heavy." You joked a bit towards the end there, but all she did was nod seriously. Is she always like this?

"I see, and how about our choice of weapons for you?" You thought for a moment.

"Well, the rifle is too long for me to get into the range of combat I'm comfortable in and the mace scratches against my leg uncomfortably. I don't see it as a thing I would practically use." She nodded once more. "Why do you ask?"

"Well," she paused, possibly wondering if she should say this. "I was your... designer, if you will, for those things. This was like the demo for what I had planned. I see now I need to come up with something else."

"Is it possible that I could help you with that?" Her eyes widened slightly. She took a moment to consider it.

"If we do it right now, you can." You took a glance at Medic before nodding. "Alright. I can fit that into my schedule. We have about an hour. Think that'll be enough?"

"Oh yeah. That'll be fine."

"Sounds amazing. Now I just need the others... your teammates to leave."

"Whaaat? Why do we need ta-" Scout protested.

"No, Scout."

"I just don't see tha reason for why we have ta-"

"Because I said so." With a sigh of defeat, Scout left, followed by your teammates. Just Medic was left. Miss Pauling looked at him. "Do you need to monitor her condition?" Medic placed a knuckle to his chin:

"I suppose not, if zhat's vhat jou prefer. However, under no circumstances should she sit up or do anyzhing more zhan vhat she's doing now."

"Understood. We'll be done soon, and I'll keep an eye on her." With one concerned glance at you, Medic left the Medbay. Once you felt he was out of earshot, you turned to look at Miss Pauling. She had a little cheeky grin plastered on her face.

"What was that for?" You laughed slightly, confused.

"I've never had another girl somewhat close to my age to talk to here. I just wanted to... speak freely? I don't know. It's stupid.." She corrected her posture and made her expression serious again. You chuckled a little, and she looked at you confused. "Yes Strategist?"

"It's not stupid. If anything, I feel the same way." Her smile slowly returned as she sheepishly relaxed.

"I-I'm glad you do." She cleared her throat. "Now, as for the design..."

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

You two spent a fair bit of time designing on her sketchpad, but you finally came up with something both of you liked.

"Now what?" You asked, checking the clock on the wall. You both had ten minutes left.

"Your weapons. Any ideas?" Miss Pauling answered.

"Hmmm I don't really know. What's a strategic tool I could use as a melee?"

"You just answered your own question." It struck you.

"You're right. You're so right. A swiss army knife would be perfect for that."

"But it has to be oversized like Engineer's." Both of you laughed at that. "Speaking of, I doubt he'd mind helping you make one."

"You're probably right." You laughed a bit more. "Maybe it could have tools to help the other classes. Like a screwdriver to fix pieces of Engie's machine."

"Engie?" Miss Pauling peered at you questioningly.

"Yeah, I gave some of them nicknames." She laughed.

"Wait, what's Scout's?"

"He insisted that I call him 'Awesome,' so I denied him one." Her laughing increased.

"As you were right to." She took a minute to sigh and turned her attention back to her sketchpad.

"Now, your rifle problem?"

"Is there a way to make a rifle but like-" You squished your hands together. She thought for a moment.

"I think I can pull something for you with our weapons guy."

"Awesome!"

"Only because you're growing on me, Strategist... I have a final question."

"Yeah?"

"Would you like a third weapon?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like a secondary?"

"Are those not my class disks?"

"Well, yes, but you still technically have a slot open for one, since your class disks don't complete the Strategist class on its own. Does that make sense? The disks open up pathways to other classes, but if you were to fight as just yourself, you'd need an actual secondary."

"Ohhh. Okay." You allowed a smirk to form. Miss Pauling looked at you confused.

"You know what I'd like to do to the other team?"

"What?"

"Give them hallucinations. Is that possible? Like a hallucination-syringe-gun thing?" Miss Pauling took a moment to process her thoughts,

"I suppose if you can conjure up some chemical with Medic, sure. I'm sure we have an old syringe gun we could put the vials in."

"No way." Miss Pauling smirked.

"Yes way. Now, I have to go. Are you ready for me to call them back in?"

"If you have to go, of course! It was awesome to get to talk to you more casually, by the way." Miss Pauling gave you a look paired with a small smile you couldn't describe.

"It was a pleasure speaking with you."

She proceeded to call them back in, and left as they entered.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

On the first day of your recovery after waking up, Medic would allow you to sit up for a brief period of time to help him create a hallucinogen for the enemy team. You found an efficient way to multiply the capsules and added them to ammo packs. Every so often, you would test one out on him, to which he would have trouble finding which Strategist to get mad at.

"Strategist? Vhat are jou doing? Again?" He growled, looking around in a dazed state.

"Whaattt? We have to test them somehow, and I'm bedridden." You snickered as he pawed the air looking for your bed despite him standing right next to it.

"Vhen I can see properly again, jou are getting it!"

"Oh am I? As I recall, you don't have the gall to hurt me." You smugly watched him look around aimlessly in defeat.

"...Ja, jou're right...."

On the second day, you could roll around in a chair, of which you had a lot of fun doing. You weren't hooked up to anything anymore, just under the supervision of Medic. This meant you couldn't stand for long, so roll it was. You rolled yourself into Engie's workshop every so often to help build the slightly large yet complicated swiss army knife.

"Ow! My thumb..." You complained, setting the hammer down.

"Now quit yer whinin'! Ya almost had it! Just be a bit more careful with it, now..." He held the tiny nail for you. You swung the hammer. "Yow!" He shook his hand and you couldn't help but laugh and apologize.

On the third day, you received your final Medigun treatment, and did it feel amazing. You patiently waited on the operation table as Medic removed the stitches as carefully as possible. It probably took longer than it should have, but hey, it didn't hurt. You hopped off the table and stretched slightly.

"Wow, thanks Medic!" You thanked him.

"Jou're velcome, Strategist," he responded with a triumphant smile. He must have been extra proud of his latest healing.

"I must say," you shook your once removed knee with a small smirk, "you're a lot better at this than you look." Medic scoffed.

"Vhat does zhat mean? Ich bin der Beste!" You looked up at him, confusion not hidden very well. He chuckled nervously. "Nevermind, it doezn't matter."

"Okayyyy," you laughed and saw him smile slightly.

"Now, what's next?" That's when his smile grew.

"I believe I've been scheduled to take jou to a surprise of some sort, but I can remember." He shrugged and you elbowed him slightly, catching his smile change into a smirk.

"Oh come on! Surely you must know."

"No, no I don't zhink so." He shrugged again and turned away from you.

"Ohh okay then. I see how it is. I guess I have to get someone else to show me." That's when Medic halted and spun around.

"On second zhought, I remember now!" He started towards the door and helped you walk for a bit while you got used to it again. Before you could comprehend why the other mercenaries were standing around your bedroom door, Medic told you to close your eyes.

"Oh, okay?" You hesitantly closed them. You never liked having your eyes closed around other people, but you decided to trust them. He gently place his hands on your shoulders and guided you down the hall. You could feel the excitement buzz around you, getting more intense the closer you got. Once you stopped, you just had to ask "Can I open them now?" The excitement was getting to you after all.

"'Yes!'

'Da!'

'Go for it, lass!'" you heard your teammates cheer. With a little bounce on your heel, you opened them.

"Oh my god!" You gasped, looking at the symbol over your door. It had changed completely.

"I love it!" You beamed. It made so much more sense than the old one.

"THAT'S NOT ALL, CUPCAKE!" Soldier snapped you out of your trance, pointing to a box on the floor. Gently kneeling down to open it, you saw your new uniform and weapons. Holy shit. This is real.

"So, how do 'ou like zem? I had zem made after all," Spy asked you, and you turned to him with a smile so bright he was taken aback a little. "Not to mention 'ou're little disks fit into notches on 'our belt for easy access."

"Like them? I love them!"