The early moments of a match in the arena were tense and restless. The competitors scrambled to find basic gear - a weapon, body armor, a backpack - as quickly as possible, then they established a perimeter. Once that was done, each team would hold their position until the movement of the Ring was indicated on their mini-computers.
The size of the arena was large enough that teams seldom crossed paths before the Ring started moving, though the possibility could never be entirely ruled out- and there were the threats of the natural environment to lower gravity of the planet meant that structure collapses were less likely to be fatal, but also that instabilities in the ground upon which they were built were more likely. Solace also supported a wide variety of hostile wildlife, which hadn't been fully removed from the arena since Crypto had destroyed the repulsor tower. It seemed that a competitor getting mauled by a carnivorous reptile over the course of the Games would generate profitable viewership for the corporation that hosted them.
Several insects flew by overhead. Though they could be large and startling, they didn't bother the contestants- they had little interest in anything that humans or robots had to offer. Once in a while, a shape moving through the air at high speed would be noticeably rounder and smoother than the others, with a quieter, steadier hum to it: a camera drone, broadcasting footage of the Apex Games to its many viewers.
Revenant had little patience for this idle period. He was determined - bound by his function - to locate enemies and start killing. It was his purpose, and just as a human might feel for companionship, he felt the intense need to carry it out.
He had to do something. It was intolerable not to- so the assassin aimed his Flatline at one of the camera drones and shot it down. Oh, the executives at Hammond Robotics who sponsored the Games would be frustrated at the waste of their precious currency…
The defunct drone fell out of the sky and landed near Bloodhound's feet. The hunter frowned behind their goggles. "Felagi fighter, I would rather our position not be given away so soon."
Revenant's optics glowered in Bloodhound's direction for a moment. Then he turned away to walk the perimeter of the watchtower. Pathetic humans, they infuriated him. They were brought into existence as useless, dependent creatures, created only because their parents found the activities leading up to it fun. They lived without a sense of purpose, and had the unmitigated arrogance to think that it made them better in some way.
He had been programmed, for more than one hundred years, to believe that he was human. Over fifty separate "human" lives- not a single one of them had felt right. He'd carried that directive - that need to fulfill his function - into each of them, and had never met a human who could comprehend it.
Instead of a directive, the skin-bags were brought into existence with a drive to seek the company of others like them. Being sentient, Revenant was capable of emotion - anger was one that he frequently had in common with the humans - but that sense of connection to others was one that he just could not figure out. It was something he'd been expected to do in each of his "lives," and it had felt deeply and intrinsically wrong every time.
What brought warmth and comfort to the humans never failed to give him an intense feeling of confinement.
It explained so much that he was a machine. He'd been deceived into believing that he'd failed at being human, over and over again. The assassin hadn't failed at anything- in fact, he was damn good at his function.
Better than any of those worthless skin-suits could ever hope to be. How dare they try to convince me that I was less…
Bloodhound didn't understand, of course. Humans never did. Their kind fancied themselves superior, but as far as Revenant was concerned, their lack of directive and need to form a bond with others were limitations- not advantages.
Back and forth the simulacrum paced along the perimeter that the team held, monitoring for any changes. He would never lose focus or interest, nor become tired or sloppy. He could hold this position and carry out this task for years if he needed to.
As was to be expected, no one disturbed them in the position they were holding. Teams were too spread from each other for a fight to break out this early in the match. The corporation dictated the pace of the game, using the movement of the Ring to build suspense or sow chaos when they saw fit.
It had been about fifteen minutes from the initial drop when the announcer's voice sounded around the arena: "Round one. Beginning Ring countdown."
Crypto pulled out his mini-computer to look at the map. The Ring was pulling north of their current position, towards the Pit. The team had a hike ahead of them.
The hacker looked up at Bloodhound. "Do you have a plan?"
"We will move to the edge of the arena, here." The hunter drew a path on the touch screen with their finger, which appeared on the others' mini-computers as a thin yellow line. "Keeping to the perimeter, it will be harder for another team to flank us. We can rotate to the Ring that way."
"Gidalyeo- I'll scout our path ahead."
Crypto pulled out his drone from its holster, his other hand activating the flight controls as a smooth, unified movement. It took a moment to get his bearings as the neurolink activated and the camera began feeding information directly into his brain- these days, he was used to the strange sensation, and was able to regain his sense of direction with the drone within a second or two.
Revenant was already on the move, agreeable to the team plan but not interested in following orders or staying grouped with the others. The drone passed by the assassin and made its way along the inner perimeter of the arena as Bloodhound had indicated. Crypto was searching for anything that might be a threat- another team, unstable ground to cross, poisonous plants and wild animals that lived around the terrain. At the same time, he kept a watchful eye open for anything that felt out of place, which might lead him to the underground area that he was certain was beneath the arena.
He didn't see any flyers so far. He hoped it would stay that way- the airborne reptiles were known to be aggressive toward competitors, among other things in their territory. The programmer did see a spider the size of his hand making its way up the outside of a building, which startled him. Annoying though it was, the spider wouldn't interfere with their passing through the area.
"All clear," he said to Bloodhound. He sent a command for the drone to return to his position, then disengaged from the neurolink. As he and Bloodhound made their way down the watchtower onto the marsh below, the drone returned to his hand. He put it safely away in its holster.
They didn't have a line of sight on Revenant through the trees and shrubbery. Once in a while, Bloodhound would check their teammate's position on the mini-computer. The assassin was a way ahead of them, but sticking to the path they'd outlined.
The pair came up to a weathered wooden building. Crypto pushed the door open and took a tentative step inside. In a corner, a spiky lizard about the length of his forearm was perched on top of a med kit.
"Shoo!"
He waved his hand in front of the lizard's face. It took a step back, then bared its teeth and snarled.
"You should have more respect for nature," said Bloodhound, an amused edge barely detectable in their modulated voice. "These creatures were here before you, and will remain here long after that body dies."
The hunter stepped forward and slowly extended their arm towards the lizard, careful to avoid making eye contact with it. It glared at them for a moment, then climbed up onto their outstretched arm. With their other hand, Bloodhound picked up the med kit and handed it to Crypto before carrying the lizard outside. They set the reptile gently on a low-hanging tree branch, and it scampered away.
"Thanks."
Crypto slid the med kit into his backpack and kept moving. He didn't care for wildlife, and he didn't like this part of the arena. It felt like the ground itself was fighting him, sinking under his boots as brambles scratched his legs. Prior to the Apex Games, he'd spent his life in a crowded city, and preferred the solid feel of concrete and steel around him.
The distant electrical crackling and sparking of the Ring reminded him to keep a steady pace. Though Bloodhound was clearly more comfortable in the overgrown environment, he did his best not to fall behind his companion.
Another spider larger than his clenched fist darted across a supply bin as he reached to open it. The hacker jumped backward and swore loudly. Bloodhound paused briefly, then kept moving. Crypto was grateful that they kept to themself, and Revenant never seemed to want to be near his teammates- if Mirage or Octane, or even Bangalore, had seen him startled by a spider, they'd annoy him with an onslaught of teases. He preferred not to be the center of attention.
In his struggle to cross the wild ground, it took him too long to notice that Bloodhound had stopped moving. The tracker was performing their strange trick in which they stood perfectly, unnervingly still to blend in with their surroundings. Crypto slammed face-first into their back.
"Down," the hunter commanded. They pushed Crypto to the ground and dove down next to him, just in time for the talons of a flyer to pass over them. The animal let out an ear-splitting shriek as it landed on the ground several feet away.
Bloodhound rose to one knee, Triple Take in their hands. They took aim at the monster and fired. The spread of projectiles penetrated its neck in a neat row, and it let out another screech. It swiped its clawed wing at the hunter, their shot having lodged in the flyer's dense skin without causing serious damage.
Crypto had managed to get his feet under him, and as the creature's claws cut through the air in front of him, he squeezed the trigger of his weapon. Its wing was peppered with bullets, and it staggered backward. The monster quickly found its bearings and took flight. The angle of aiming almost straight up presented a challenge, and as Crypto struggled with his weapon, the flyer lunged.
Its claws tore into his shoulder as it tried to carry him away. Its wing had been damaged by the shots he'd put into it earlier, however; the creature lost its lift and tumbled to the ground. It lost its grip on Crypto's shoulder, and he skidded along the ground until a tree a few feet away halted his momentum.
As the hacker struggled to his feet, he felt warm fluid running down his chest and arm. The wound that the massive reptile's claws had inflicted in his shoulder was bleeding, heavily- seeing as he hadn't lost consciousness yet, it wasn't the most immediate threat to his life, and would have to wait.
He emptied a magazine into the creature's belly. Bullets pierced its flesh, but didn't travel deep enough into its body to deliver a killing blow. The flyer howled and lunged at Crypto, mouth open wide and fangs at the ready. He scrambled away, as fast as his legs could carry him across the overgrown ground.
A well-aimed shot from Bloodhound's Triple Take tore the scaly flesh on the side of the creature's face. The damage done must have disrupted its vision, as its jaws snapped shut around empty air far to the right of Crypto. Its neck turned, infuriated face searching the ground for the source of this new pain.
The flyer screeched and reared back a final time before a shotgun blast exploded from its belly, spraying the monster's blood and bits of its flesh across the ground and all over Crypto. He grimaced, and briefly wondered if it was time for him to start wearing a mask and goggles in the arena as Bloodhound did. The flyer collapsed on the ground in front of him, revealing the figure of Revenant, who put another blast into its head.
The orange light from the simulacrum's optics appeared even more menacing in the relative darkness of the forest.
"Shame I don't get to watch you two die," Revenant grumbled. He turned and walked away, back in the direction that Bloodhound had originally plotted on the map.
Now shaking from the fading rush of adrenaline, it took Crypto longer than it should have to retrieve a syringe from his backpack. His fingers fumbled with the plastic box that protected it. Bloodhound crouched down next to him, and after looking the programmer over to ensure that he wasn't hiding any more serious injuries, reached over and undid the latch.
The box popped open, allowing Crypto to inject the contents of the syringe into his forearm. The smart-polymer material went to work repairing the damage to his skin and other tissues, and the pain in his shoulder faded to a dull ache. It wasn't long before even that subsided entirely.
"Thanks," he said. He nudged the body of the flyer with his foot. "Those things shouldn't be here."
"This was their home," Bloodhound replied. "It was destroyed to make way for a human settlement. When that failed, the corporation turned this land into an arena for the Apex Games. These beings' lives and peace have been harmed forever by their… work, and continue to be disrespected by our presence here."
"Don't talk to me about the harm that the corporation has caused, as if you know something about it," Revenant growled into the commlink.
Bloodhound answered, "I was speaking to Crypto."
"Then turn your commlink off."
"I cannot do that, Revenant, if you will not stay nearer to the team."
A shot from a sniper rifle rang out through the forest, the bullet lodging itself in a tree barely more than an inch from Bloodhound's head.