Don't mind me. Just casually writing a waaaaaaay longer chapter than before. I spent awhile on this as well as the overall plot. Enjoy.
Pathfinder was running across the field when the bullets began zipping by. His two teammates, a brand new twenty-four year old male named Griffin, game name Grenadier for his usage of custom-made, high grade explosives he used, and a somewhat experienced thirty eight year old female named Kayla, game-name Angel due to her ability to give off healing waves and able to instantly heal anyone, took cover behind a large rock. Pathfinder managed to get into a nearby structure in time.
"Path, I dunno whatcha got, but we're pinned down here!" Angel yelled. Grenadier lobbed grenades both of his own and standard issue at the attackers. Pathfinder raised his Longbow and checked out the attacking squad. He instantly recognized Gibraltar, the massive man standing atop the hill and raising his arm ready to throw what looked like an orbital bombardment flare. Pathfinder knew Gibraltar's tactic like the back of his metal hand, having played both with and against him. The bombardment would annihilate Angel's and Grenadier's shields, probably damaging them in the process. Gibraltar and his squad would then advance through the smoke and dust and wipe out Pathfinder's squadmates.
If Pathfinder could sigh, he would have. He ran to the backside of the structure he was in and shot a zipline to his beleaguered squad.
"Here, friends! It's a zipline!"
The two fighters hopped onto the zipline, just as the first of the bombardment struck the ground. Pathfinder took that time to fire a few shots at the attacking squad before taking cover inside the structure.
"Thanks, Path," Grenadier said.
"You're welcome friend. But I have noticed that we are currently in a very delicate position. I advise we relocate to a different position," Pathfinder said, handing a syringe to Angel. Grenadier tapped a few buttons on his vambrace, pulling up a 3D map of World's Edge. The other two did the same. Their position was marked by a three different colored triangles.
"Let's head this way," Angel said, marking a point on her map, just inside Skyhook. "It's not too far and we can find some better loot."
"Yeah, there's probably a few squads there too. I'd estimate maybe three at most." Grenadier said.
"Sounds like a plan. Let's do it friends!" Angel peered over Pathfinder's shoulder, looking outside.
"If we're gonna go, we gotta go now." She said, running for the back door. Pathfinder turned to see Gibraltar and his squad riding the zipline Pathfiner had set down. Pathfinder and Grenadier followed the healer outside and shut the door.
"I can hold them," Grenadier said, hefting a flashbang and a high-power grenade. "We might even get a few kills out of it." Angel grinned.
"I like the sound of that," she said, pulling out a frag grenade.
"If you insist," Pathfinder said, activating a thermite grenade.
"Path, when they open the door, go to the other side and hold it shut." Grenadier said, readying himself.
They heard the door open and the squad stepping inside, picking up the ammo left behind. Grenadier threw open the door, tossing in his flashbang and chaos ensued.
The squad inside fired at the open door, but hitting nothing. Pathfinder, Angel, and Grenadier threw their grenades. Pathfinder then scrambled up the wall, across the roof and to the other door, pressing his back against it, feeling the hits of people kicking against it. Gunfire erupted from behind the door and everything went quiet. Then, on Pathfinder's HUD, his kill count increased by three. Opening the door, Pathfinder found his squadmates going through the dead squad's loot.
"Oho! Looks like Gibby was overcompensating!" Grenadier said, lifting a level four body shield out of his box. Angel pulled a level three out of one box and Pathfinder pulled another level three out of the last one. Pathfinder continued sorting through his box, finding a better scope for his Longbow, more energy ammo for his HAVOC rifle, and a few more consumables.
Once everyone had taken the best loot, they headed out for Skyhook, unaware that they were being watched.
*linebreak*
Revenant stood atop a hill with his partner, one of biggest names in the Apex Games; Alexander Nox, alias Caustic. The two would never admit it, but they enjoyed each other's company and were a damn good team.
"They're heading for Skyhook," Caustic observed. Revenant nodded.
"Let's get 'em. I haven't killed anyone recently," Revenant said, cocking his R-301 and charging his Sentinel. Caustic chuckled darkly, loaded up his Peacekeeper, checked his Longbow, and the two began pursuing their quarries.
Pathfinder and his squad sprinted across a clifftop over looking Skyhook, the Epicenter in the distance. The trio scanned the city, seeking any foes. Pathfinder was the first to find a squad, all the way on the other side of Skyhook, but making their way towards them.
"Enemies spotted, friends!" Pathfinder said, marking their location with a few taps of the vambrace all players wore. His teammates replied quickly.
"Copy that,"
"Gotcha,"
They watched for another minute before Pathfinder shot a zipline to an abandoned construction project. The squad rode in, still watching the other squad. They landed on the roof of the building, grabbing some ammo and gun attachments. Pathfinder watched as the other squad headed into a building near theirs. Then he heard footsteps below them. He looked over at his teammates. Grenadier was wide eyed with fear, a trembling hand gripping his R-99. Angel cocked her Peacekeeper, her expression steely calm with determination. Pathfinder listened to the sounds of footsteps, then the sound of a zipline being used. The three aimed their weapons at the nearest zipline. A legend shot up, jumping off, and the rest of their squad followed, unaware of the full squad right in front of them. Pathfinder opened fire, the HAVOC's full auto energy rounds signing through the air. Grenadier's R-99 began firing, a high pitched squeal of light rounds. Angel's Peacekeeper thundered, shotgun rounds ripping through the air. Within a few seconds, the enemy squad was down and eliminated. It was silent for a moment. Grenadier let out a sigh.
"That was easy,"
Not a moment later, a sniper round slammed into his shields, shattering them. A second sniper round impacted his head, knocking him down. Quickly, Pathfinder and Angel scrambled for cover as a third round zipped by. Pathfinder analyzed the sound and identified it.
"That is a Sentinel. The shooter likely charged it up with a Shield Battery, giving them the ability to take out an opponent's shields with one round," Pathfinder said. As a test, he poked his head out and withdrew quickly narrowly dodging the fourth round. That sniper sound was one he knew well. A Longbow.
Next to him, Angel quickly pulled Grenadier back onto his feet and handed him a Phoenix Kit. Grenadier took it gratefully, healing him and restoring his shields.
"Well, what the hell do we do now?" He asked, reloading his R-99. "We're completely pinned here."
"Eh, not quite," Angel said. "Path, can you figure out where these snipers are?" Pathfinder nodded and jumped out. Two rounds ripped through the air, the Sentinel round destroying his shields while the Longbow round barely missed his.
"Sniper heading confirmed. They are firing from angle 188," Pathfinder said and pulled up the map, marking a building not too far off. "Likely from the top of this structure." Angel nodded and turned to Grenadier.
"Can you launch a grenade that far?" The healer asked. Grenadier grinned and pulled out a grenade launcher.
"Hell yeah,"
"Path, as soon as that grenade explodes, shoot a zipline and we'll ride down and take them out." Angel said. Pathfinder nodded.
"Let's do this, friends!"
Caustic looked through his Longbow's scope. Seeing no movement, he sighed in frustration.
"We should just rush them," he said to Revenant. The simulacrum assassin remained fixated on the roof, waiting for his prey.
"No. You saw how quickly they took down that other squad. I heard what weapons they have. A HAVOC, an R-99, and a Peacekeeper. If we rush them, we will die. Better for us to wait for them. We can slowly chip away their shields, causing them to use their shield batteries and cells," Revenant inspected the Sentinel before resuming his vigilant watch. "Eventually they'll run out of shields and they'll just be skinbags, waiting to be killed." Caustic nodded, still disagreeing. They waited for a few more minutes before something interesting finally happened.
Caustic was amusing himself by letting a small amount of Nox gas out next to an ant. The tiny creature writhed and curled until it finally died. Caustic smirked in grim satisfaction. He turned away from the insect's corpse to resume watching with Revenant. As Caustic peered through his Longbow's scope, he heard a dull thump and a small object hurtled through the air. Caustic frowned as it landed between him and Revenant. Without warning, it exploded, sending out a billowing cloud of black smoke, and taking away a fraction of their shields. Blinded by smoke, Caustic attempted to deploy some gas traps, but found he had none available. So he and Revenant opted to run out of the smoke, which only served to create targets for Pathfinder and his squad. The trio fired upon the scientist and simulacrum. Within a minute, Caustic was eliminated, his banner pinging every so often, while Revenant retreated down into the building. He ran outside, using the only Phoenix kit he had, and formulated a plan. The building the attacking squad had come off of had a Respawn beacon on top of it and a viable way to get up there. Revenant leaped onto the wall of the building and scrambled to the top, retrieving Caustic's beacon, and rode the zipline up to the beacon. He plugged the banner in, waiting for the dropship to bring back Caustic. After a few seconds, the scientist was back.
"I can cover you as you get your weapons back," Revenant said, gesturing to Caustic's death box. "The other squad is at least two floors below."
"I'll throw down a gas trap to deter them from the stairs," Caustic said. Revenant nodded and jumped onto the zipline. He took position by the lift line on one end and Caustic threw down a gas trap before retrieving his items. When he was finished, Revenant nodded.
"Let's finish off this squad," he said, summoning a Death Totem in the center of the building, it's boundaries well outside the building, giving them full protection. The two entered into its totem's protection and descended into the building.
Pathfinder and his team were a few hundred meters away from the building that they had left Revenant and Caustic in. The squad ran for a nearby hill and the next ring location, the edge of which was the Train Yard and the Geyser. They took position on top of the tunnel and watched the building through their weapons' sights. When they had left, Grenadier had placed motion-detecting mines by each of the doors. That way, when Revenant and Caustic exited the building, they would trip the sensors and detonate the mines. It wouldn't be fatal, but their shields would be completely gone and they would take severe damage. Sure enough, they saw a door open and a split second later two explosions thundered through the air. Pathfinder, Grenadier, and Angel fired their weapons and mowed down Revenant and Caustic. The kills pinged on the squads' game gauntlets. The trio ran down to the death boxes, looting them. When they had finished, Pathfinder now sporting a level four knockdown shield and a 4x-10x variable sniper scope, they headed for the Train Yard, feeling very optimistic about their odds of winning.
"Well, that was sucktacular," Angel said in anger. Grenadier nodded in agreement. Pathfinder knew exactly why they were so upset. After arriving in Train Yard, and finding it looted, they had been ambushed by the Champion Squad, consisting of Mirage, Bangalore, and Wraith. They had been tricked by Mirage's holograms, which alerted Bangalore to send down a smoke screen and an air strike. When they managed to avoid that, Wraith phased through the Void, placed a portal for her teammates, and quickly cut down the other team. Pathfinder had been able to initially avoid the airstrike, but had been taken down when Mirage sniped him. They had woken up in Bay, a massive room where all the Legends were kept during battles. Pathfinder was actually quite fascinated with how it worked.
Legends were put into chambers where neural uplinks were attached to them. Their mind and consciousness were then ported over to a clone of them. The clones did not possess a mind of their own, thereby allowing the Legends to inhabit a second, expendable body. During the Games, all their equipment was placed in a pack called a Voidpack. The Voidpack materialized as a deathbox when the clone was killed. Pathfinder, being a robot, simply plugged into an uplink and took control of a second body. Revenant did the same. They were much, much safer than their biological counterparts, who ran the risk of dying with their clone, which happened occasionally. Since the conception of the tech, it had only happened to about ten people. Their families, if the Legend had any or kept in contact with them, were given a large sum of money in compensation.
Pathfinder and his partners exited the Bay and headed for the Theater, where they could watch the remaining teams and players finish the round. There was a massive bay of windows, showing the arena. Unlike back in King's Canyon, the Legends were housed in a ship, an old IMC Andromeda-Class carrier stationed a few kilometers above World's Edge. Not many of the Legends knew about the origin of the ship. A few suspected that Bangalore knew something about it, but no one pressured her for fear of getting a P2020 to the face. Pathfinder watched through the windows as the last two squads battled it out. Bangalore, Mirage, and Wraith had the advantage over Bloodhound and his partner, a Legend by the name of Mark. Mark didn't have a Game Name, but he was an artist with a sniper. His ultimate ability was firing his rail-sniper, shattering through walls and based off the footage from his body cam that Pathfinder was watching, he was preparing to crack open a building that Bloodhound had revealed the other squad was in. The confrontation was happening at a small cluster of buildings in the western half of the island. Everyone was glued to the glass. Mark charged up the rifle and fired. A flash of light appeared below them and an audible thunder roared up.
"Ha, wouldn' wanna be that squad in thea!" Gibraltar said, chucking. Those that heard him nodded in agreement. The monitors that were broadcasting Lifeline's, Mirage's, and Bangalore's footage showed their shields and health drop extremely low and a gaping hole now appeared in the metal walls, glowing red and steaming. Grenadier raised an eyebrow and turned to Pathfinder.
"Sure glad we didn't have to face him," he remarked to Pathfinder and Angel. Pathfinder nodded.
"Yes, but I have analyzed Mark's tactics and he rarely uses his rail-sniper in direct confrontations. He only uses it when trying to get into buildings where other players are." The robot said. Angel frowned.
"What does he use for his tactical then?"
"He has an implant in his head that allows him to see roughly where his targets are going. It's how he has one of the highest sniper accuracies of all the Legends," Pathfinder said, turning his attention back to the monitors which now showed Mirage get gunned down by Bloodhound's R-99 and Lifeline getting blasted with Mark's EVA-8. Bangalore fired a smokescreen to escape, but Bloodhound reacted quickly, tracking her footprints outside where the soldier was desperately trying to use a MedKit. Bloodhound fired their P2020, knocking Bangalore to the ground, eliminating the squad and securing the win. Before their clone was automatically killed, Bloodhound knelt by Bangalore's body and placed her R-301 on her body in a sign of respect for the old Norse gods the hunter worshipped. With the game now over, everyone began filing out, going to other activities or to hang out with their friends among the Legends. Pathfinder headed for his quarters. When he arrived, a notification pinged on the computer station. Pathfinder sat and opened it. It was a message, sent fifteen minutes ago.
Well done. I created you well.
Pathfinder was shocked. His creator had finally reached out to him. His creator.
Ooh, a cliffie! *rubs hands together evilly but not too evil* What ever shall happen next? Also, I don't really know that much about Titanfall, which Apex Legends is a part of, so if anyone is willing to fact check these, I would be very grateful. -RFA