Fires.

Searing, destructive infernos.

Apocalyptic, blazing combustions-

"Bloody hell!" The demolition man, or 'Demoman' for short, used his shoe to pat out the flickering flames of yet another baby fire. In frustration, the Scotsman bellowed, "Where is tha' Pyro, and who gave 'im firepower outside a' battle?!"

Sitting at a large table and sipping his coffee was the Engineer. He looked up from some blueprints and shrugged, "might have been Miss Pauling."

"now why woul' she do that? All he does is play with it," suddenly, He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, "Speak of the devil-"

The pyrotechnic waltzed out the hallway, clutching a small object. He happily bounced over to Engineer and extended a gloved hand, opening it to reveal his find.

The engineer glanced at his gas-masked teammate before gently taking the black, rectangular object and flicking it open, "Pyro, where did you find this lighter?"

Demoman sluggishly strolled over as Pyro started his muffled storytelling. He flailed his hands around, pointing in one direction, then another before making little hand puppets to help visualise the intriguing, yet unintelligible narrative. Engineer smirked at the childishness of the pyro. He nodded and listened to the incomprehensible rambling, all the while inspecting the cigarette lighter for some sign of ownership.

"Thas' great an' all," Demo interrupted, slapping a hand on Pyro's shoulder, "But ye' know ye' can't be havin' any fire startin' thingies inside tha' home building."

He slumped his shoulders and made an apologetic noise. The Engineer felt bad once he saw the sudden loss of excitement, but shook his head, acknowledging the Scotsman's concern.

"The Demo's right. Why don't you go put this back where you found it," He took the pyrotechnic's hand and placed the lighter within it, "you can do that, right?"

Pyro nodded, holding the sleek rectangle close to his chest. With a grunt, the Demoman waved him off and sat next to the other teammate. Both watched as their suited friend strolled back through the hallway.

"That lil' fella concerns me sometimes," The explosives expert pulled a drink out from seemingly nowhere, taking a swig, "feel like he's gonna burn tha' buildin' down."

Engineer drank more of his coffee, "Hmm, I wonder who's that was, anyway-"

"Bonsoir, gentlemen," Spy, the posh Frenchman of the team, suddenly slinked into the room, swiftly making his way towards the two, "perhaps, by any chance at all, you 'ave seen my lighter?"

Pyro suddenly stopped and sighed. She lifted the small object to her face. Temptations were high, but the thought of letting down a friend was just as strong. With a deep breath, she lowered the lighter slowly from her view to continue trudging along the wood-encased hall. Her rubber-gloved hand fiddled with the small lid, flicking it open and closed.

One little fire wouldn't hurt, though… Would it?

Well, the disappointment from Engineer certainly would.

The thought motivated Pyro to keep going. She took a small breath as the outdoor world came into view. She stepped out onto the hot sand, the sun blaring down onto her. She dropped to her knees and placed the small black lighter down. After a few seconds of inspecting the position, she adjusted it to a slight angle and nodded, letting out a satisfied murmur.

After standing up and turning around, a tumbleweed tapped up against her leg. Pyro moved her gaze toward it, then to the lighter…

The entire base was ablaze. All nine mercenaries stood staring in disbelief.

To this day, Spy is banned from using cigarette lighters outside of missions.