The young woman's body collapsed to the ground with an unceremonious thud.
Wattson was a formidable marksman. She was one of the best snipers- a skill that was often underestimated due to her slender build and gentle mannerisms, which set her apart from the other competitors.
She had proven herself among the Legends, and rightfully earned her place in the arena.
Her weakness, however, was that she tended to panic if the fight was brought to close range. Rather than helping her to endure the fight, the adrenaline coursing through her body often caused her to lose control if the enemy were able to close the distance.
She wasn't well-prepared for Revenant- a professional assassin with nearly three hundred years of experience identifying the best strategies, tactics, and approaches to guarantee a kill.
The simulacrum knelt next to the body and searched it for ammo and shield batteries. The moments after taking a life were almost peaceful to Revenant- he'd successfully carried out his directive.
He was too late to react to the figure behind him.
With Revenant's attention elsewhere, Caustic was able to neatly align the barrel of his shotgun with the assassin's shoulder joint. Revenant's body shield had been depleted of charge in the earlier struggle, and would be useless to him right now.
A deafening bang sounded through the battlefield. Pieces of metal and hydraulic fluid covered the ground around them.
Revenant spun around, finger on the trigger of the rifle held in his other hand. His damaged arm flailed uselessly and threw off his balance. The bullet meant to go straight into Caustic's forehead embedded itself in the wall of the wooden structure behind the chemist instead.
Caustic laughed. He knocked the barrel of Revenant's gun aside with his own shotgun, which he then threw to the floor. He unclipped a canister from his belt, and sprayed the notorious gas directly into Revenant's damaged shoulder.
"Breathe it in."
Caustic enunciated each word, then laughed quietly at the irony of the statement.
Revenant didn't have lungs that could be burned by taking the gas in, nor did his body require the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide to survive. He did, however, rely on the ventilation of outside air to keep his systems at a low enough temperature for optimal functioning- a vulnerability which mimicked that of the human respiratory system, and one that Caustic was well aware of.
Machines weren't immune to the chemist's invention. The gas was capable of dissolving the insulation that covered electrical wires. Given enough exposure over a longer period of time, it could even cause structural damage to some metals at a molecular level. It was an artificial composite based on a type of insect venom- the sort meant to digest prey from the inside out. Caustic's immunity came from an injection of antivenom that he'd given to himself and his teammates before the match, which rendered the substance inert.
The scientist didn't know the details of Revenant's programming- that in addition to the slowing of his systems, the myriad of warnings about the damage and the corrosive substance, the simulacrum experienced pain as a human would. Phantom lungs that Revenant had never really had burned in agony; imaginary skin tingled. The sensation turned from pins and needles into nails and crushed glass.
Revenant snarled in pain and rage. Those sensations weren't real- they were programmed by some skin-suit lab technician who wanted to see him fail. He was better than any human, and failure wasn't an option.
He wouldn't allow himself to be held back by human limitations. His hand found the rifle that had been knocked away from , however, had the advantage. He wasn't disoriented by the gas. He kicked the weapon out of Revenant's reach.
The chemist cocked his shotgun and pointed the barrel at Revenant's right optic. "So long, simulacrum. I win."
In a sudden movement, Caustic stepped back, realigned his aim, and put the shot into Revenant's hip joint instead. The assassin growled harshly. His intact arm and leg pushed his body along the ground, inching toward the rifle that had been knocked away from him. It was a futile effort, and he knew it.
Caustic let out a menacing laugh.
"You didn't honestly think I'd make this quick for you, did you?"
The corrosive gas was dissipating from the air around them now. Revenant could clearly see his own damaged body. He also saw a glint of light in the distance, far behind the scientist.
"I'll repay the favor, you know."
The assassin's voice was hollow, some sounds distorted by static. It reflected the damage that had been done to him.
A sniper shot Caustic in the back, depleting his shields. The chemist stumbled forward. Revenant's undamaged hand gripped his ankle and twisted violently. The bone snapped with an audible crack.
Caustic fell to his hands and knees, shouting in pain. The shotgun clattered to the ground, and Revenant grabbed it. He aimed at the chemist's head and pulled the trigger. In the time it had taken to line up his shot, Caustic had pushed himself over onto his back, and the blast missed him.
Revenant realigned his aim and fired again. The shotgun responded with an empty click.
Caustic scrambled back up onto his knees. He reached for the rifle that was slung across his back. Revenant pushed off his undamaged leg and lunged at Caustic. He knocked the chemist to the ground. Another shot from the distant sniper struck him in the shoulder, barely missing Revenant's head. Caustic shouted and cursed at the sudden searing pain. He made a grab for the exposed cables in Revenant's damaged shoulder.
Revenant's functional hand closed around the scientist's wrist in turn. Caustic's eyes widened as he realized his tactical error too late. Revenant pulled down and twisted, hard. Tendons were torn from Caustic's elbow and his radius snapped from the brutal force applied by the machine.
"Next time you want to torture me, at least make it interesting," Revenant growled over Caustic's pained scream. His hand retracted, replaced by a crude blade, which he plunged between Caustic's ribs.
The chemist went silent. His body stopped moving.
"Attention: there is a new kill leader."
Revenant still had the problem of that distant sniper to contend with. He pushed himself across the ground, damaged arm and leg dragging over the wooden boards beneath him. He forced open the door of a small structure and crawled inside. The door swung shut behind him, and he made his way into a corner, where he sat propped up against the wall.
He was breathing heavily.
Wait, no he wasn't- it was that infernal programming, putting the delusion in his processor that he couldn't catch his breath, that the ground around him was drenched in warm blood and his body was growing colder. He knew better than to fall for that anymore. He wasn't human.
Revenant forced himself to concentrate on his surroundings, through the noise of broken data and the phantom sensation of human pain.
With difficulty, he retrieved a shield battery from his backpack. Restoring the barrier that dispersed the kinetic energy of bullets would at least ensure inconvenience to any enemy who came to take advantage of his weakened state.
The building he'd retreated to was roughly square in shape and had two doors, on parallel sides. One faced the direction from which the assassin knew that the sniper was still watching. For now, though, they didn't have a shot on him.
He only had one syringe. That was nowhere near enough smart polymer to repair all the damage he'd sustained. The shortage of that particular resource didn't concern him- he'd been forced to fight while severely damaged plenty of times. Both of his weapons had been thrown away from him in the brawl, and were lying on the ground somewhere outside the building. That was more on his mind.
In such a situation, he'd need to take the fight up close, where his strength and durability would overpower that of a human.
As he injected the contents of the syringe into the gap between metal plates that surrounded his damaged hip joint, he became aware of Bloodhound's voice over the commlink. The hunter was calling his name, demanding that he respond. That had likely been going on for some time- the last thing Revenant was concerned about during a fight was his commlink…
Someone was approaching the building. His teammates were going to have to wait for an answer- he didn't have time to deal with them right now.
He pushed himself further into the corner adjacent to the door, on the side with the hinges. When the enemy came for him, he'd catch them off guard from behind- end it quickly, before they could take advantage of his lack of resources. He preferred to draw out the kill just a little more; give his adversary just enough time to fully process their fear before they were gone. In this situation, he'd have to prioritize efficiency over form.
Revenant powered down all of his nonessential systems. The glow of his optics or the mechanical hiss of venting air wouldn't give away his position.
The door swung open. He waited.
A startling bang sounded through the arena, followed by the electrical crackle of shields depleting. The slender figure on the other side of the door stumbled forward, then disappeared into a flash like a lightning bolt. It was Wraith that was hunting him, then- as the other competitors went, she was one whom Revenant considered at least somewhat competent.
Another figure shuffled around the outside of the building. The opposite door burst open. Bloodhound stood in the doorway. They looked right, then left, clearing their corners before entering the enclosed space.
The smart polymer had replaced enough of the damaged metal and wire in Revenant's hip joint to allow him to stand. He glared down at the hunter from his full height as his auxiliary systems powered back on.
"That was my kill, damn it."
He took an aggressive step toward Bloodhound to emphasize his point. The joint, which was not fully repaired, collapsed under the added strain, and the simulacrum fell to one knee. Bloodhound kept their eyes trained on Revenant from behind their goggles, but said nothing. Instead, the hunter slid Revenant's rifle, which they'd retrieved from the ground outside, across the floor toward him.
The assassin picked it up. "I'm not thanking you. You still cost me a kill."
Gunfire rang out around them, alarmingly close by.
"We need to go," said Bloodhound. "Now."
They grabbed Revenant by the shoulders and dragged him out the door they'd entered before the assassin had a chance to argue. With their cybernetic augmentation, the hunter could keep a swift pace with little effort, even though the simulacrum's metal body weighed several times more than that of a human. In their state of overdrive, they were able to see enemy heat signatures across the battlefield. One of their lungs was an artificial replacement, capable of completing the oxygen-and-carbon-dioxide transfer much faster than its biological counterpart. This allowed Bloodhound to voluntarily raise their metabolism, exhibiting a degree of strength and speed unnatural to the average person.
A grenade exploded on the roof of a building as they moved past, turning splintered wood from the roof into shrapnel and debris that rained down around them. Wraith stood on the roof of one of the nearby structures, looking down the scope of her sniper rifle for a kill. A couple of well-placed bullets, courtesy of Revenant, sent her scrambling for cover.
One of Mirage's decoys ran by. The trickster himself was somewhere to Wraith's right, looking for an angle on her as she was focused on Bloodhound and Revenant. His teammates likely weren't far off- Mirage tended not to go looking for solo kills.
More gunshots sounded, piercing the serene atmosphere of the arena in the absence of carnivorous wildlife. Crypto's drone flew over their heads, in the direction of Wraith and Mirage. As Bloodhound dragged Revenant through a narrow opening between the cliffs, into a building set aside from the others, the two of them saw the EMP go off in the distance. Mirage's decoy shimmered and faded out of existence. The gunfire came to an abrupt stop as both teams were forced to retreat.
Crypto sent a command for the drone to return from his position, and stood up from behind the crate he'd been using for cover.
"That will keep them from attacking us, for now."
The hacker glared at Revenant. "You're an idiot. You're lucky you didn't get us all killed."
"I didn't ask you to follow me," the assassin retorted. "I would have had that kill on Wraith if you skin-suits hadn't interfered."
Revenant had pushed himself into the corner adjacent to the hinged side of the door once again. His arm and leg hung from their damaged joints like dead weight, unmoving. Crypto looked him up and down. The hacker could see the frayed wires, damaged and disconnected actuators, and lightened streaks across the metal plating that covered his body, where Caustic's gas had weakened the molecular structure.
"Heh. Yeah… right."
Bloodhound stayed silent throughout the argument. They sorted through the supplies in their backpack and brought out a med kit, which they dropped on the ground next to Revenant. Rather than stand around and allow the assassin to criticize their decisions further, they turned away and headed up the stairs and out onto the roof. From there, the hunter could keep watch and be prepared should another team locate and attack them.
Crypto made one last accusing glare at Revenant before he followed Bloodhound, leaving the simulacrum alone inside the building.