Commander held onto his cap as a jet flew close to the ground. Very quickly following it was Frost Spirit, who was in a skin tight body suit that zipped up from the groin to the neck. The new upgrade prooved useful as it reduced drag substantially.

      His stamina was also picking up as he was keeping up with the jet quite well, but wasn't able to catch it though. It was incredible how much progress he was making in the last two days since getting that letter.

      With the time frame in mind, the scouting mission should be back by tomorrow. Commander had been antsy as Scout had been away for so long. He had a spot ready in his office for that drawing too.

      "Move! Damnit!" Molten barked as he carried an extremely large crate over his head. The thing would definitely crush some poor towers if dropped on them. Instead of wearing the old and withered obsidian armor, he was in more military attire.

      He wore khaki pants with a heavy belt around his waist and the cover on top of him was the same color as his pants. The sleeves were rolled up to above his elbows and the tie under his collar was done excellently. Commander was surprised by the sudden appearance change, especially from Molten Boss of all titans.

      Commander moved before he was kicked aside. Molten wasn't very thrilled about his placement. He would usually show it through his aggressive attitude, but he seemed to have a niche for explosives. Commander began to think that maybe he could see if he would like to visit the mortars and maybe even the rocketeers.

      "Having fun just standing here?" Engineer whistled as she went up from behind Commander. Commander turned and huffed, "I've already checked up on trainings, they are going great. Weapons are still being tweaked on for our newcomers, but they are showing that they are exceeding past that point."

      "You do have a point, but you don't get as exciting results from fists as you do a missile!" Engineer touched the earpiece on her ear, "Alright, Bird. Meet me and Commander back at base. We can work on catching that jet some other time."

      It took a minute, but the two watched in awe as Frost Spirit began to glide down to them. He liked to take his time and rest his wings after being told to come back. It gave him a break and made sure he wasn't sending unwanted gusts of wind into the base.

      As he landed, he shrunk back down and strutted over to the two towers waiting for him. "Nice landing! We should prepare you for quick landings though," Engineer complimented.

      Frost Spirit simply nodded at the study. "Am I free to get my medicine? My hand is starting to hurt," he looked down at the bandaged hand. It wasn't broken thankfully, but it was definitely bruised to all hell. Medic said the hit should of broken some bone, but it seemed the bone was quite inforced. Frost Spirit didn't plan on being split open though to learn about it.

      "Oh yeah. Thanks for jogging my memory, Bird! Medic says that vegetable head's arm is back and he isn't as useless anymore. We can assign him!" Engineer told Commander. "He is? Please! Oh please let me come with you!" Frost Spirit begged down at Commander.

      Commander thought about it, then caved in. They had refused to let the ice titan visit since the incident. "Fine, but get your medicine first. We'll be in his room," Commander lead the small party of idiots to the medical building.

      The doors had been replaced since the incident. When they walked in, some seats and plants were missing, curtosy of Frost Spirit. Warden instantly stood up from his desk and glared. He wasn't afraid to actually break Frost Spirit's hand this time.

      Bunny Medic was made aware that Frost Spirit was allowed back after getting his medicine. Commander and Engineer left the titan while they went back to talk to Sinister.

      "I hope he's as egotistical as they say he is! I love the way he laughs!" Engineer began to fangirl out at the thought of meeting the Lord Sinister. Never had she got to meet him until now.

      Commander let his own childish side come out a little too, "I remember being a kid and making a whole school presentation on him!" Engineer snorted, "Please tell me you have it!" "It's on my work laptop, I look at it when I need inspiration," the two laughed at the mention.

      "Here's the room! It feels like I'm meeting a movie star that was just issued in for drug usage," Engineer giggled. Commander was the first go in. When he saw Sinister, his face dropped.

      He was in a medical gown, nothing else. That trashy yet comforting medical blanket was over him, keeping him somewhat warm. The most noticeable thing however was the huge, long, and nasty scar running across his face.

      "Lord Sinister? I'm glad to see the arm back," Commander started a conversation. Sinister jumped a bit and looked over. He quickly scanned over them before slumping back again.

      "You two aren't Frosty, so I don't care," the titan grumbled out. Engineer felt herself shatter. This wasn't at all how she thought her first interaction with Sinister would be like.

      Commander too flinched, but didn't take it to heart, "He has been busy. However, the more you sit here, the more you won't see the ice titan." Sinister growled and turned to them, "I, the great and 'powerful' Lord Sinister, got his ass beat out there and got his weapon snatched from him. Look at me, nobody will take me seriously with this damn thing over my face!"

      "I had a whole arm ripped off! One of my arms! What would Frost Spirit even think.." Sinister sighed and put his face into his hands. Commander didn't know what to say, he wasn't a therapist like Bunny Medic.

      "I would think that maybe you should stop being locked up in here where I can't see you?" Frost Spirit suggested as he walked in. Sinister instantly looked, but then just as quickly looked away to hide the scarring away. "Sinister, I've been forced in this hideous attire. Let me see you," Frost Spirit gentley grabbed his shoulders.

      Sinister reluctantly turned to him. They stared at one another, before Sinister finally spoke, "I always liked it when your hood was down." Frost Spirit softened and rushed into his arms, "You're stupid. Did I forget to mention that thing scar makes you look manly?"

      "Okay, get off eachother. No being weird. Where do you think he'd be pretty good at?" Commander asked Frost Spirit. The avian thought about it, thinking about probably putting Sinister with some scouts. He wasn't that mean though, but he thought very hard on it.

      Frost Spirit then had the perfect idea. "Look at him, that's a big strong titan right there. I've seen him snap logs in half with his bare hands," he pointed at the scarred pumpkin man. Engineer whistled then got kicked for it by Commander.

      "Why waste it by giving him some puny tower gun! Don't you have a little man who specialises in hammers?" Frost Spirit asked. Commander instantly knew who he was talking about, "Sledger is an ice tower. He'll teach him how to slam a hammer down and that's about it. You can't teach a fire titan any ice tricks."

      "Good enough. Get up! We only have a few very short weeks until we gotta kick some ass! I rather you not be mauled again!" Frost Spirit squawked at Sinister to get up. "Fine, Frost Jesus! Leave so I don't have to be naked in front of you all!" Sinister hissed.

      When Commander and Engineer left, they had to come back and drag Frost Spirit away because he must of thought that didn't apply to him. He complained about it of course after they left.

      "You had your visit! Now go and eat some sunflower seeds or whatever birds do!" Commander ordered. He was hissed at before Frost Spirit took off to quickly fly to his next destination in the camp.

      Engineer was snickering and snorting beside him, covering her face. "What? What's so funny?" Commander asked. "I'm done calling him 'Bird', I'm going to start calling him Frost Jesus," both Engineer and Commander bursted out laughing.

      Engineer stumbled away to go work while Commander waited around for Sinister. As he waited, Minigunner came up to him. "Sir, there's an issue with your placement of the Nuclear King. Toxic Gunner... he doesn't want to be near him."

      Commander raised an eyebrow, "How come? It's been half a week, why now?" Minigunner shuffled in place, "He was induring it on your behalf. However, something must of happened. He's locked up in his room."

      Commander groaned. This was something he didn't want to deal with. "You alright?" Sinister asked from behind. When Commander looked up, he was astonished to see that Sinister had a new change of clothes. He wore a white tank top, a pair of black, baggy pants, a grey hoodie was tied around his waste, and black military boots fit snuggly to his feet. Around his hands were a pair of fingerless gloves with spikes on the knuckles.

      "Yeah, I just gotta deal with an issue before taking you to see Sledger. Come on, and don't say a word," Commander began walking to Toxic Gunner's room. He had made it his mission to know every tower and where their rooms were. There wasn't really a system of where each tower was, it was pretty much random.

      Lucky for them, Toxic Gunner wasn't very far. He wondered what Nuclear King did that must of ticked him off so bad. Toxic Gunner was never like this, he was always so friendly.

      When he got there, Commander knocked then tried to open the door. It was locked, typical. "Toxic Gunner? It's Commander. What is going on?" he asked.

      "Go away! I'm not going to keep on training him! Ever!" Toxic Gunner yelled from in his room. Commander grumbled and got out his keys. Getting his skeleton key out, he opened the door himself.

      Toxic Gunner was on his bed, facing the wall. His goggles were tossed on his small desk and no other lights were on. Commander thought it best to keep the lights off as he walked over and slowly sat down on the bed opposite of Toxic Gunner.

      "You're usually so friendly and open with everyone. Why the change of attitude? Is he annoying or something?" Commander asked. Toxic Gunner scuffed and sat up. The spot where his left eye should be was badly scarred. The eye had long been removed, but the scarring and trauma still remained.

      "Did you ever forgot that he did this? When I was little, he raided my village and did this! My family abandoned me because of what he did!" Toxic Gunner began to sniffle. "They... they said I wasn't worth the medical bills."

      Commander felt his heart twist. Never did he know about the being abandoned part. Toxic Gunner just never talked about it. "What made you even think putting him with me was a good idea?" Toxic Gunner wiped his face.

      "I'm not just going to put someone I know who has a potential somewhere else because 'so-and-so did this or that'. This might sound cruel, but this isn't kindergarten," Commander spoke gently and respectfully. Toxic Gunner looked up at him, almost shocked.

      "What exactly did he do to finally make you snap?" Commander asked. Toxic Gunner looked down at his lap, contemplating on confessing or not.

      He sighed and looked away, "I had taken my goggles off to get something out of my eye. Then he... he said I looked pretty. I screamed at him to shut up, that I'm.. ugly and that he did this to me. Then I left."

      Toxic Gunner sniffled. It was pretty dumb. Commander had no idea what the issue was. Nuclear King didn't even say anything mean from what he's hearing. He was expecting the most guttural insult honestly.

      "Was that it? Man, I should go visit him so he can call me pretty too!" Sinister butted in from the door. Commander hissed, "Go away! Your damn jokes aren't needed here!"

      Toxic Gunner stared at Sinister for a moment, before gently snorting into his fist. "It's okay Commander, that was funny. Has he been placed? I'm sure he'd do good with a nuclear blaster," Toxic Gunner had some hope.

      "He's going with the Sledger, sorry. You're still stuck with Nuclear King," Commander tried to pat Toxic Gunner's shoulder, but he pulled away from the touch. Sinister watched the distressed tower for a moment before walking over and taking a knee. He was at perfect eye level.

      "Do you wanna beat up Nuclear Flirt?" Sinister asked. Toxic Gunner jumped, "Even if I did want to, I wouldn't be able to land any good punches!" Sinister cackled, "You want me to beat him up? You can watch me do it."

      Commander tried to stop them, "No! We aren't having any fights!" His opinion was ignored as Toxic Gunner agreed to it. "You can find me later, little tower leader. I have a fight to start," Sinister waved as he and Toxic Gunner left.

      Commander hated it here. He was this close to resigning. However, he wanted his retirement package. He had to endure this for about another forty years. He would snap one day.

      He left and closed up Toxic Gunner's room and went around to check around the base. The demomen were having fun with Molten Boss, who was chucking bombs at barrels and blowing them up.

      Frost Spirit was above the camp, scouting around. When he went to visit the accelerators, he was surprised to see them all taking a break and listening to ancient stories that Void Reaver had to offer. Commander didn't want to admit, but he got pretty engrossed in them.

      After hearing the time Void Reaver defeated a real dragon with just one arm and one of his snapped off horns, he went to check on Raider Boss. He was treated with a show as Raider readied his new railgun and proceeded to hit ten bullseyes in under two seconds.

      Then be went to check on Fallen King. He was pretty disappointed to see that he wasn't doing all that good. Perhaps he could place him somewhere else. He stayed and watched the titan for a minute.

      His granite hands couldn't grasp the handle of the minigun all the way. That caused the weapon to droop off its target. The other minigunners were getting upset at him, but Fallen King never paid them any mind.

      Commander was surprised. If that was him, he'd be snapping at them to shut up. Never did he think that Fallen King could be so patient. However, if he couldn't properly wrap his fingers, what weapons could he use? Fallen King was starting to become limited with options.

      Sighing, Commander left to go check on something else. Perhaps that cake he asked if Chocolatier could make? That was a great idea. Hurrying to the kitchen, he raced in to see if he could catch her before she went to fetch towers that were assigned to be on dinner duty.

      Sure enough, there she was. Perfect timing too because she was decorating the cake. It was all chocolate, Scout's favorite. The letters were in green icing, Scout's favorite color.

      "This looks amazing! Yet again, you've outdone yourself. I'll make sure Scout thanks you extra hard," Commander stared down at the cake. "Thank me? He should be squeezing you to death! You're the one who's planning him a whole party for his first scouting mission," Chocolatier reminded him.

      "I know, but I'm not the one making his favorite cake am I?" Commander grinned as he skipped out of there. "Tell Gladiator, Valentines Cowboy, and the new guy Molten Boss are on dinner duty!" she called one last time.

      Commander decided to get that out of the way first. Of course, none of them were happy, especially Molten. "You said I was going to be treated like a guest!" he argued. "If you plan on staying her for the next two weeks, you are pitching in. Now move!" Commander screeched.

      Molten was upset, but left to go do as told. Commander felt pretty lucky that he wasn't burnt to a crisp.

      Looking up at the darkening sky, he sighed out. This whole raising an army thing was going great. He had his doubts in the beginning, but he was getting impressive results.

      Then, his stomach growled. He forgot that he had skipped lunch. Maybe he could go bug Medic in her office and swipe a beef stick from her. She always has those for her "pets". Those things terrified him.

      He was just about to start his march there when Ranger called out from the watch tower, "Commander! Commander, they're back! Watch out, they are coming in fast!"

      Commander moved out of the way just in time for the same military truck that went out days prior came screeching in. The driver instantly got out and ran to the back, helping a severely injured Douboy Soldier down.

      Winter Soldier came out a moment later, holding a cloth to his ear. Finally, Soldier made it out. Blood covered his chest and hands.

      "Soldier! You're bleeding! Look how much blood you are losing!" Commander ran up to him. Soldier shook his head and looked down at the ground. He kept his hands away from his body, not wanting to touch himself with his own hands.

      "Commander... it isn't mine," Soldier reported. Commander looked at him confused then viciously looked around for Scout. He didn't come off. "Scout? You okay in there buddy?" Commander tried to pull himself up on the truck.

      Soldier tried to grab him, but remembered he was covered in blood. Instead, he called out, "Commander. Please. Don't go in there. The kid..."

      Commander froze as he stared into the truck. Covered with a white sheet stained heavily with blood was a body. He denied it was him.

      "Soldier. Where is Scout," Commander asked, his voice shaking. "Sir.. he didn't make it-" Soldier put his hands up as Commander rushed over to him and grabbed him by his shirt and shook him.

      "I asked where Scout was, damnit! Where the hell is he? Tell me where he is!" Commander screamed. He was pulled away by Minigunner and restrained. "Where is he? That isn't him! That can't be him!" Commander was starting to break.

      Cyber Medic rushed out and jumped on the truck as fast as she could. Not even a moment later, she came back out. Her face said it all as she looked over at Commander.

      He broke. He began to wail out. Commander took his cap and slammed it on the ground. Soldier was taken away to be cleaned while a small team of towers helped move Scout off of the truck.

      Towers watched as their once emotionless Commander was torn to shreds in front of them. Titans watched as well as the towers were met with a similar situation as they were met with. One of their beloved kind was taken so selfishly.

      Commander began to hyperventilate as he coughed and fell to his knees. Nobody stepped in, they all knew the two towers were close. Towers began to let their own emotions fall through, a lot of it coming from the scouts themselves.

      "Commander.. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," Medic was the only one brave enough to step over and crouch beside him. She opened her arms and he instantly pushed against her. Medic silently pat him through it.

      Never had she seen Commander so distraught. He was either grumpy or having a blast with Scout. "Maid Commander will take over for a bit. Please, just come with me for a while," Medic slowly got up, bringing Commander with her.

      Together, the two of them left the scene to go be alone, most likely Commander's personal room. As towers filed away to begin mourning, Void Reaver turned to the truck. He sniffed.

      Something strong hit him. He sniffed again and got closer. It was familiar. "What is it?" Molten Boss asked. Void Reaver