Expiration Date

Expiration Date
Video Info
Released:	June 17, 2014
Run time:	14:58

Video Description

Engineer and Medic make an unsettling new discovery while experimenting with the teleporter. Meanwhile, Scout stops insulting Spy long enough to ask him an embarrassing favor; the Administrator's clerical assistant/cleaner/murder expert Miss Pauling races to bury some incriminating bodies; and Soldier makes a new metal friend.

Plot summary

As the mercenaries return from a mission to capture a briefcase, Miss Pauling calls them to ask how the mission went. She is slightly irritated that they left witnesses that she has to take care of for them. Scout tries to talk to her, but he is unable to think of anything to say to her.

When they arrive back at the base, they hear bad news from Engineer and Medic: the bread that they have experimented on has developed large green tumors, leading them to conclude that they will die. The Medic estimate's that each team member has about three days left to live. Engineer provides each team member with a wrist watch that will count down to the time of the mercenaries' demises.

In face of this news, Spy decides to collect a bucket list in a literal bucket. Spy delegated the task of collecting wishes to Scout, who has filled it with drawings of the Spy being hit by a car and having a romantic relationship with the w:Eiffel Tower. Spy remarks that his time has been wasted, and angrily bids the team farewell.

Afterwards, Scout comes to Spy's room to apologize and seek his help. He confides that he did have a real wish for the bucket list: a date with Miss Pauling. Scout admits to Spy that while he himself is good with girls, he is vastly outclassed by Spy when it comes to ladies.

Spy agrees to coach Scout in how to behave around a lady. While Scout shows some progress, Spy ultimately declares Scout a failure.

With little time left on his death watch, Scout decides to take things into his own hands. He calls Miss Pauling to the base by pressing the alarm button for the briefcase being stolen. She hurriedly arrives on the scene, but is infuriated upon learning that the briefcase is actually secure.

Meanwhile, Medic and Engineer have come to the conclusion that the growths in the bread are, in fact, not tumors at all, but a self-aware organism that can only spread in pure wheat. They inform the team that they are fine as long as no more bread has been teleported; Soldier then announces that he has been doing just that for the past three days.

Upset at Scout for wasting her “one day off a year”, Miss Pauling begins to leave. As Scout attempts to get her to stay, they are confronted by a giant bread monster. A fight breaks out, with the mercenaries rushing to their aid. One of the Medic's pet doves ends up eaten by the monster, followed by the Soldier.

During the fight, Miss Pauling attempts to blow up the monster by using a Payload cart, strapping the Scout's death watch to it to serve as a timer. As Scout attempts to help her, she and Scout end up trapped on the wrong side of the blast doors as the bomb is about to blow up. The two notice that the dove that the monster ate is flying harmlessly out of the mouth of the monster. They wordlessly agree to jump into the mouth of the monster.

Stunned by the blast, Miss Pauling and Scout painfully but quickly recover inside the bread monster. Once she recovers, Miss Pauling admits that the experience was fun. Scout tells her about the death prognosis just as the two are helped out of the remains of the bread monster. They are informed of the fact that only bread mutates and that they will all be fine.

The story ends with Scout trying to get another date, but Miss Pauling having to decline due to already having spent her one day of vacation this year. She does, however, offer Scout to come along at work, though he declines each task Pauling lists until she comes to the task of punishing the one who pulled the briefcase alarm.

Notes

• The title card displays "COPYRIGHT LOLOLOL" on the bottom right corner, a recurring joke throughout the "Meet the Team" videos.
• Ashly Burch, the voice of Miss Pauling, also helped write some of the short.
• At 12:25, Soldier's voice sounds different from his usual voice. This is because he was voiced by Nolan North instead of Rick May for that scene, as the old voice actor acquired throat cancer and can no longer scream for Soldier's lines.
• Nolan North also voices the Engineer's new lines, as the original voice actor, Grant Goodeve, was unavailable.
• The Soldier's desire to obtain the Spy's bucket is a possible reference to the Brain Bucket, a Soldier cosmetic.
• At 11:59 the Sniper Rifle uses the same firing sound as the AWPer Hand instead of its default firing sound.
• The team responsible for the 2013 Best Overall Saxxy award-winning short, Lil' Guardian Pyro, helped animate a small section of Expiration Date.
• In 12:59 you can see Miss Pauling holding a Derringer, a weapon that has not yet been added to the game.
• The location of the RED Base is in an edited version of the map Hydro.