Death in the Apex Games was not permanent. It was a weekly occurrence for the highest-level competitors, and they suffered no ill effects when they woke up in the staging facility- so why was Crypto so anxious about it?
His hands shook as he gripped his rifle. His heart pounded inside his rib cage, and his arms and legs felt weak. Every time Revenant burst through a door, he found himself holding his breath, silently hoping that there wasn't an enemy on the other side.
This is ridiculous, he told himself. You need to get it together.
It wasn't the possibility of dying at any time that was getting to him, the hacker told himself. That had never been an issue for him before- at least, not from what he could remember. It was more likely that he was on edge simply because of the threat that Revenant had made against Mila. As her older brother, it was his responsibility to protect her, and he'd already failed to protect her from the Syndicate assassins who'd kidnapped her.
If Revenant was true to his word, and found Mila before Crypto could…? Well, he just couldn't let that happen. He didn't know how to protect her from a ruthless, sentient machine built for the taking of human life.
He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Focus. There was nothing he could do about the situation at this exact moment. Quantifying what was causing his fear - and understanding that it wasn't some new, ridiculous phobia about death in the Games - should allow him to put it aside…
Revenant smashed through a door up ahead, with the loud cracking of splintered wood. Crypto flinched and nearly lost his grip on his rifle. He swore under his breath.
Bloodhound turned around to look at him, head tilted.
"I'm all right," Crypto insisted. "He's a real piece of work, yeah?"
The hacker gestured in Revenant's direction. Bloodhound's sight line followed the motion. Revenant had cleared the building he'd smashed his way into and was moving far ahead of his teammates.
"Hmmm." Bloodhound made a contemplative sound from their throat. "The hubris of mankind, to give free will to a machine-perhaps we deserve this. Perhaps the Allfather has allowed it in the hope that we will learn."
Crypto was silent. While he respected his teammate's unusual religious beliefs, he also had no idea what to make of them. He avoided the awkward pause by turning away, scouting the area behind him for flankers, though he did not expect to find any.
"How much do you know about the corporation?" he asked finally.
It had become clear to the programmer that both Bloodhound and Revenant had been dealing with the corrupt organization for much longer than himself. He doubted that there'd ever be a situation in which he could trust the simulacrum, but Bloodhound at least had proven themselves to be reliable.
"The corporation is more than a single entity," the hunter answered. "IMC, Hammond Robotics, the Syndicate- they are felagi. They protect each other, and preserve their control over the Outlands. Take on one- you must be prepared for the others to retaliate."
"I'm aware of that," Crypto said bitterly. Frustrated, he found himself grinding his teeth. Revenant smashed his way through another door up ahead, and this time, the hacker didn't flinch. The fear in his mind had given way to anger.
An animal of some sort darted through the dry leaves that had piled up along the side of a structure. At the resulting sound, Crypto and Bloodhound both dropped low to the ground and took cover. Each searched the area for movement, anything that felt out of place- any indication that an enemy was watching them. Finding nothing, Bloodhound stood and kept moving. Crypto followed the hunter's lead.
"I need one of their banner cards."
The sudden remark from Crypto was mumbled, quiet- but it drew Bloodhound's attention. Their head turned toward their teammate.
"And a lot of syringes- as many as I can carry," the hacker continued. He came to a sudden stop, standing taller, shoulders held high with a newfound plan and confidence.
"I know what I need to do."
Bloodhound was silent. They stood still for a moment, as they waited patiently for an explanation.
"I'll take the banner card off someone we eliminate, go outside of the Ring, and activate a beacon. The cameras won't follow me- they'll stay focused on the action… When the drop ship comes in, I'll get my drone on board, and I'll use it to transmit a program that temporarily disables its security measures. That should allow me to get on board."
He looked at Bloodhound, and he couldn't fully hide his shaking hands. Part of him hoped that the hunter would call his idea stupid, crazy, talk him out of it- there were so many things that could go wrong. Just the idea of going outside of the Ring - the first step of many - terrified him.
"You will do as you must to protect your family," Bloodhound said instead. "I must protect mine, as well. Your actions would break the rules of the Games- and so, I cannot accompany you."
They bowed their head. For a moment, they were still in that position. They turned and walked away, continuing the path around the perimeter of the Ring. Up ahead, Revenant had cleared another building. A small reptile attempted to flee; the simulacrum grabbed it and tossed it roughly to the ground outside, to which Bloodhound reacted by making a frustrated noise in the back of their throat.
Crypto's mind raced as he plodded along behind them. He was running through the plan, playing it out in his head- intruded by scenarios in which something went wrong. How would it feel to go outside the Ring? What if he ran out of syringes? What if his program didn't work, and he was unable to get the ship to land?
What if the corporation caught onto him? What would they do to him then- to Mila?
"I know you've been listening," he growled in a low tone, knowing that the open commlink was - and had been - picking up his words. "Are you with me?"
"Double-cross me, and I'll peel the flesh off your bones," Revenant growled back.
Crypto rolled his eyes. He had no doubt that the simulacrum could kill him in hundreds of painful ways, if so inclined- and he was sick and tired of hearing about it.
Up ahead, he watched Revenant smash his way through another door. Within the same moment, the arena erupted into gunfire. As the hacker dived down behind cover, he fully expected to see Revenant's broken body collapsing to the ground. To his surprise, the assassin appeared unharmed.
Unfortunate, said a little voice in the back of Crypto's mind. If Revenant were to die in the combat of the Games right now, it would make the mission ahead of him easier.
The sudden gunfire hadn't been directed at Revenant, or in response to anything he'd done. It wasn't even on the same side of the arena, Crypto now realized. Revenant was north of his position, and the sounds of battle were coming from the southeast.
Bloodhound was closest to the ongoing combat. They were hunched low by the outer wall of a small building, slowly making their way toward the fight. Revenant charged past Crypto at a full-speed run, impatient to get into the action as quickly as possible. As the assassin approached Bloodhound's position, the hunter grabbed his leading arm and pulled him forward and downward along the side of their body.
Crypto raised his eyebrows. He was well-trained in combat techniques, and not unfamiliar with the concept of redirecting an opponent's momentum. The way that Bloodhound had taken the three hundred-pound machine to the ground like it was nothing… That was masterful.
"You will not run in alone this time," Bloodhound snarled. They spoke at a neutral volume, yet their tone managed to convey a threatening message.
Revenant had risen to a kneeling position, and he hissed at Bloodhound as he rose to his full height. The hunter did not react.
"Flank right," they continued. "Circle behind this ongoing fight. I will draw their attention from the front as you engage."
For a moment, both competitors stood still, staring each other down with a tension between them that seemed tangible. To Crypto's surprise, the assassin turned away and complied without so much as a verbal argument. The hacker had fully expected Revenant to attack their team leader. He supposed that killing the enemy must appeal more to the simulacrum's twisted processor.
Bloodhound rounded the corner of the building and crept forward. Crypto followed closely in their footsteps. The first enemy that the pair were able to get a visual on was Wraith- she was perched on the roof of a building, looking east through the scope of a sniper rifle. Revenant was aware of her position as well, and was waiting silently at the perimeter of the building. If she dropped off the back of the roof, it would be a free kill. If she moved in another direction, he was ready to chase her down.
Bloodhound's voice came over the commlink: "Do not engage until we identify the positions of her teammates, and the team that she is aiming at."
Revenant responded with a frustrated growl, but he held his position.
The hunter turned to Crypto.
"Already on it," said the programmer as he released his drone into the air. "Cover me while I scout the area."
The drone was just above the nearby rooftops when Wraith suddenly turned toward it. She took a shot at it with her sniper rifle. Seeing that the shot had missed, she jumped down from the roof. As she ran away, her body vanished into the void.
Revenant took off after the trail of blue particles that her phasing left behind.
"Revenant!"
The assassin ignored Bloodhound's exclamation, and the hunter didn't waste the breath to order him to disengage. They doubted that Revenant would obey at this moment.
Crypto had backed out of his drone, and was looking wide-eyed at Bloodhound. "I- I didn't think she'd be aware of it at that distance," he stammered.
Bloodhound nodded. "Wraith is a skilled and experienced combatant. Do not worry about her now. Try to locate the others."
They darted away, and climbed up on top of the roof that Wraith had vacated. It was now they who looked over the battlefield from that vantage point, waiting patiently with their sniper rifle at the ready. Their mini-computer beeped- Crypto's drone had transmitted the locations of Mirage and Bangalore, who were holding a position next to the cliff-side across open ground.
Click.
Bloodhound reacted on instinct- they dropped from the roof a fraction of a second before the storm of bullets from Wraith's R-99 shredded through the wood and metal. They stepped inside the building and closed the door in Wraith's face as she attempted to follow. She looked at them through the glass panels for the briefest of moments, then turned and ran east along the side of the structure.
When her footsteps had grown distant, Bloodhound opened the door and looked outside. Mirage and Bangalore were approaching their position, moving in from the west. As they drew closer, Mirage struggled to match his teammate's pace and got caught in the open- three shots from a rifle were fired by another competitor somewhere behind the neighboring buildings, which depleted his shields and caused him to stumble. Bangalore responded by setting off a smoke canister between their positions and the shooter, after which she grabbed her teammate's wrist and yanked him toward the wall where they'd have cover.
Mirage crouched low and fumbled with a shield cell. Bloodhound climbed up onto the roof, as quietly as they could manage, and crept toward his and Bangalore's positions over the tops of the structures.
Their mini-computer played a soft beep over their commlink. They lay flat to avoid easy detection as they paused to look at it- Crypto's drone had detected Wraith at the other end of the grouping of small structures. A gunshot sounded- then a second, and the signal was lost. Wraith must have been shooting at the drone; Crypto was forced to recall it.
The hacker didn't like this position at all.
He got low to the ground and crawled on his elbows and knees to reach a building closer to Bloodhound, further from where he'd last seen Wraith through the neural link. Once he was safely around the corner, he rose to one knee, rifle at the ready in his hands.
"In three… two… one."
Bloodhound's voice over the commlink was barely more than a whisper- a striking contrast to the two simultaneous gunshots, shotgun and sniper rifle, that reverberated through the battlefield just after. The hunter's Triple Take had depleted Mirage's shields, and at the same time, Revenant had put a devastating blast into his right side.
Mirage made a horrible gurgling sound as he tried to scream with a lung full of blood. Bangalore set off another smoke canister between the two of them and Revenant. She used the cover to grab her critically injured teammate by the shoulders and drag him to safety- relative to the simulacrum, anyway.
Crypto had a clear line of sight on the position they'd taken up.
Bloodhound shifted forward slightly on the roof of the building they were posted up on. Looking through the scope of their sniper rifle, they could see Lifeline rushing to aid her team. In doing so, the medic had given up a secure position further from the mainmost combat. A shot from the Triple Take tore through her shields and forced her to take cover to recharge them. She was safe for now, but cut off from her teammates.
Crypto's mouth was dry. He felt as though his heart were trying to explode out of his rib cage with how hard it was beating. In his mind, he stood outside of his body, watching it act on its own as an outsider as his finger squeezed the trigger of the R-301 in his hands. Mirage stopped struggling and lay abruptly still, wide, terrified eyes staring into nothingness.
Static crackled over the commlink, followed by Revenant's resentful growl: "Did you take my kill, skinbag? I'll take your life."
"Caught you."
The hacker spun around in reaction to Wraith's voice behind him- close behind him. She was ready, and took the opportunity to unload the magazine of her R-99 into his midsection. He heard the crackling of his shields depleting, and the next thing he was aware of was the cold.
Surprisingly, it wasn't pain that was dominant in Crypto's mind- it was how cold he felt. He realized that he was lying on his back on the ground, although he hadn't been aware that he was falling. Wraith stood over him, reloading for the kill shot. More static crackled over the commlink- a voice came through, but Crypto couldn't make out the words. Everything around him felt distant.
A shot from a sniper rifle found its way to Wraith's shoulder and depleted her shields. She turned and ran, disappearing into the void.
That was the last thing Crypto was aware of before the world faded out of his consciousness.