Chapter 19 – A Speedy Death
Octane's Point of View
"The name is Elliot Witt." He held out his hand. "Hola Amigo! Octavio Silva. Octane, high speed-daredevil!" He shook Elliot's hand excitedly. It had always been Octavio's dream to compete in Apex and it was finally coming true. He was finally in the arena and meeting his partner for the first time. He looked around at the two tall buildings at the backside of Repulsor. "Yeah. No problemo!" Octavio pulled out a syringe full of stim and injected himself. He ran around Repulsor twice before Elliot could think of his first and second question for him.
"So is that your ability?" Elliot tilted his head to get a better look at him. "One of them." Octavio crossed his arms over his chest. The stim made him run fast but it also drained a small portion of his health. As Octavio stood there his health began to regenerate. Elliot straightened his head and rubbed his chin, "What did you inject into yourself and where did you get it?" Octavio chuckled at his teammate's question. "Stim injection. It came from Silva Pharmaceuticals."
Elliot raised an eyebrow when heard the name. "Silva Pharmaceuticals. I know that name. Ajay's wallet." His thoughts were interrupted. "What's your ability amigo?" Octavio was tapping his right, platinum foot impatiently. Suddenly Octavio felt a tap on his right shoulder. He looked over his right shoulder. There was no one there. Then he felt a tap on his left shoulder. He looked over his left shoulder. There was no one there. He promptly turned around to see Elliot laughing behind him. He laughed, "Teleportation?" He watched as Elliot dissipated into blue electrical sparks and then dust. "Decoys and invisibility." Elliot was still standing in the same spot as Octavio turned around. "Sweet!" Octavio smiled.
Elliot moved closer and knelt down in front of Octavio. He made a fist and knocked on one his legs. "Where did you get these?" Octavio struck a pose for Elliot. He was a ball of energy and highly extroverted, "Ah, these beauties. They were made from the left over Stryder Chassis of a Northstar Titan. A fast Titan. The only one with hover capabilities. Some assembly required." He paused, "All assembly was done by a friend. My friend made them for me. Pretty cool, huh?" Octavio was pretty proud of his prosthetic legs. Elliot saw some letters engraved into Octavio's left upper lower leg but before he could make out the letters he was flying through the air and Octavio's laugh was distant.
Elliot landed safely on the other side of Repulsor. He ran back over to Octavio to find some sort of green and gray pad laying on the ground where he had been standing. "Do you like my jump pad amigo?" Octavio laughed some more. Elliot chuckled and took a few steps back. Elliot held his right hand out and pointed at the jump pad. His suit started glowing blue and all the energy transferred down his finger. An exact copy of himself, a decoy, appeared and ran right at the jump pad. The decoy launched off the pad and went flying. They both started laughing hysterically. They found more items to launch off the jump pad. This seemed to go on for an hour or two.
Elliot had been on this map longer than the other Legends knew about. He gave Octavio the official tour after they were done screwing around. Elliot didn't take too much seriously and it was nice to know that his teammate was lighthearted like her was. He couldn't help but wonder what Octavio's connection to Ajay was, or if he even had a connection to Ajay. He didn't want to ask him too many questions on the first day. He did have one more question for him though. "Hey, what's that on your belt?"
Octavio looked down, "Oh, this old thing? It's a small dialysis machine. It cleans my blood. That stim is no joke amigo." Elliot nodded, "Makes sense." "Kind of." Elliot took Octavio to Bunker. "There will be one Legend or one team here for sure. Caustic and Lifeline." If Octavio had any color in his face it would be drain but he didn't. His face was pale. He heard her name, "Lifeline." The name sent chills down his spine. Elliot told Octavio about all the other Legends attributes and their downfalls and they made their way back to Repulsor.
It was 30 minutes before the match was about to start. Everything that they did and pulled out on the started to disappear. They would not have access to anything until the countdown time hit zero. Team Speed is Fun had an advantage because they would start on the map, no dropping out of a ship. They agreed that they would start in Repulsor. Elliot had suggested the loot was decent there and the likelihood that anyone would drop with them would probably be slim to none.
Elliot pulled up the map to show Octavio, "Bomb Squad will probably land in Relay. "That's Gibraltar and Bangalore." Hunt in the Void will probably land in Skull Town. "That's Bloodhound and Wraith." Science is good Medicine will land in Bunker. "That's Caustic and Lifeline." Elliot started laughing. Octavio just stood there quietly for a moment, "What so funny amigo?" Elliot looked over to Octavio, "Lifeline and Caustic." He paused and did his best Ajay Che impersonation of her impersonation of Alexander, "Dr. Alexander Maxwell Nox." He laughed, "Ajay is not happy to be paired with him tonight. He is rough around the edges. He is not being a team player right now."
Octavio was tense. He was the most still he had ever been in his life. "Ajay. Were they on a first name basis? Of course they were. Elliot was a coworker." He quickly brushed the thought away and began running in place. The countdown clock had 60 seconds left on it. Once the clock hit zero Octane yelled, "NON TERRAE PLUS ULTRA!" He sped off to loot. Mirage laughed, "Yeah! What he said. They quickly looted Repulsor and head towards Swaps. This was the fastest that Mirage had ever looted and before he knew it they we meeting Bomb Squad in the Burning Forest just beyond Swamps but before Wetlands.
Octane threw out a jump pad, used a stim, ran and jumped. He shot Gibraltar in the head with his R99 while doing a flip and down him almost instantly. Bangalore thrrew out her smoke and her rolling thunder. She double timed over to Gibraltar, dodging bullets from Octane. Bangalore began to pick up Gibraltar in her smoke cover but was immediately stopped as her teammate tagged Mirage right in front of them, "Right here!" Bangalore stands up and shoots her P2020. The decoy dissipates into thin air and both Bangalore and Gibraltar turn into death boxes. What Banaglore didn't expect was the real Mirage behind her shooting his gun at her at the same time she was shooting his decoy.
Mirage and Octane fist bumped before looting. They quickly took what they needed and proceeded to the buildings straight ahead. Their final destination would be Bunker. After looting the lower set of building they make their way to the top buildings. Mirage motion for Octane to stop while he listened. Mirages puts his index finger to his lips, "Shh." He pointed to the main building that had two entry ways with stairs to each entry way. He could hear movement. He whispered into the comms device, "I will take the door on the other side. You take the door on the left. Shoot through the windows." Octane nodded. They both moved, crouched to designated locations.
Each entry way had a window next to it. They both had their weapons drawn. Octane had an R99 and Mirage had an R301. They peaked through the windows. Mirage could see Bloodhound and Octane could see Wraith. "Three!" Mirage whispered yelled into the comms device. With one clip from each gun both Wraith and Bloodhound were death boxes. They both entered the entry ways through their respective doors. They fist bumped and looted quickly. "Octane, grab throwables. Caustic will have the Bunker on lockdown with traps. We can shoot the traps at the bases to disable them but only if we see them. But if we can't see them we will set them off." Octane nodded and picked up a few termites and a grenade, "Got it amigo!" Mirage picked up his own throwables as well, mostly thermites, "We need to go and hit the backside of Bunker and maintain high ground." Octane gave him a thumbs up and the both ran out of the building.
They ran through Three Way and slid down into the water, ignoring all the buildings in between. They didn't need to loot anymore. They went up the left side of Bunker and made their way to the backside of Bunker. None of the bins had been opened. They didn't bother to touch them; they didn't want to make any unnecessary noise. "What's the plan amigo?" Octane looked over to Mirage as they stood outside the Bunker door. "As soon as the siren goes off for ring countdown we'll open the door and play it by ear. Shoot down any traps that you can see and chuck throwables in." Mirage was quite happy with his plan.
Octane nodded in agreeable and opened the door to Bunker as soon as the sirens sounded to signal the ring countdown. They shot down Caustic's gas traps one by one and entered the Bunker. Mirage pulled out a thermite throw it around the corner into the long hallway. One of the gas traps went off with the sizzling of the fire, "Damn." Mirage was hoping to get in there clean and wipe the squad without a hitch. They both listened and heard the crack of two body armors, one after the other. "They are both cracked." Mirage announced to Octane.
Octane pulled out a thermite and chucked around the corner. They both heard a clunk followed by a knock, and then sizzling and the familiar sound of a death box. They also heard another gas trap explode. Octane heard the other set of Bunker doors open. "The front of Bunker?" He pulled out a stim and began to run through bunker. Mirage yelled into the comms device, "What are you doing?" Octane ran through his own fire which broke his armor. He jumped over a death box, which he didn't have time to examine. He ran through the gas which brought his health down significantly. He made it to the front of Bunker just in time to see someone run into the house just straight ahead and to the left. He pulled out another stim and injected himself.
He ran towards the door but veered towards the left around the house as the clatter of footsteps in the water. Now his footsteps were in the water. He stopped and turned around in front of the rock where he heard the footsteps stop. He looked down at the person in front of him. He looked down at her. He knelt down in front of Lifeline. He hadn't seen Lifeline in so long. Lifeline's features were so soft. He watched the look of disbelief wash over her face. Mirage was yelling in his ear over the comms device. Octane pulled the comms device from his ear. He then reached over and gently removed her comms device. He tossed both of their comms devices into the water behind him. The comms devices sparked and sizzled in the water until they died; they were not waterproof. No one could hear them anymore.
He finally spoke, "Che." His voice was low and calm. He knew that she allowed him to call her that; he was the only one that was allowed to call her that. He watched her lips move as she tried to speak. Her sweet voice was nothing more than a whisper to him, "Silva." He smiled under his mask. He had not heard that name in a very long time. Just as she allowed him to call her Che, he allowed her to call him Silva. "She is the only one that can call me that." He stared at her as she gazed into his eyes. He was wearing goggles, so it was unlikely that she knew where he was looking.
Octane removed his broken armor off and tossed it to the side. He reached into his backpack and pulled a grenade out. He saw Lifeline's face drop as he pulled the pin from the grenade and held it in his hand. He knew the grenade would not detonate until he released it. That's how the arena was programmed. The grenade flashed red in his hand as he moved closer to Lifeline. His eyes were locked on her, like he had tunnel vision. He hated seeing the look on her face. He knew that he had done her wrong in the past. He had disappointed her on some many level.
Octane was so close to her. He could see that Lifeline wasn't moving, she was barely breathing. Octane reached down with his free hand towards Lifeline's left hand. He placed the grenade in her open hand and released it for one second. One second was just enough time for it register not being in his hand. If Lifeline could see his face she would see that it was sad and concerned, but she couldn't. There wasn't enough time for him to tell her what he wanted to say.
Octane watched as Lifeline's facial expression changed to a look of surprise as he closed his hands around hers. He watched as she started shaking her head. He heard her whispers to him, "No. No. No. No." He watched her for moment. "I can't kill you in this battle royale. Not now at least. It's not fair. What I did to you. I hope you understand this is the only way out of this situation; if I kill us both." He snapped out of his thoughts and tried to calm her, "Shhh. It's okay. It's just me and you Che..." His voice sounded abnormally calm, even for him. He knew he never sounded that calm. He watched Lifeline close her eyes as they pressed their foreheads against one another and grenade exploded.
Mirage walked out of the Bunker and heard the explosion. He ran over to where he heard the noise. He saw his teammate's death box and Lifeline's death box "What the fuck happen?" He couldn't make sense of what happened. His thoughts were soon interrupted by the announcer's voice, "We have our Apex Champions." Mirage had no one to celebrate with so he danced by himself until he teleported back to the transport ship where all of the other Legends were already waiting.
